A Journey Anew
by ExpertoftheBlade
Summary: Akainu has caught up with the Strawhats, the Fleet is destroyed, and Luffy gains a new ability. Time travel fic, large crew, main pairing Luffy/Wanda/Carrot but is overall Luffy/Harem. Rating may change with later chapters.
1. Chapter 1 Planning

**Hey guys, not sure if you are here because you saw this on the On Piece page, or if you read my other story. Anyways, I am a huge piece of One Piece, have been ever since I was a child. It was essentially what got me into anime and the Japanese culture in all, well One Piece and Pokemon, but what do you expect from a 90's kid. But yeah, I have watched and re-watched all the dubbed episodes, but only recently began watching the sub and reading the manga, in order to catch up to the current story. I always questioned why they never recruited more than a few people per saga when there were plenty of candidates. There are a lot of candidates with the recent arcs. I hope for Carrot, Wanda, and Jinbe to join. I know Jinbe will, but the other two are a definite maybe. Honestly I don't know why there aren't more stories with Wanda and Carrot.**

 **This is my first One Piece Fanfiction. I obviously don't own One Piece. This chapter is rather short, hopefully as the story progresses the chapters will get longer.**

" _How could this have happened?"_ Luffy thought. He and his entire crew were in the Aquarium lounge, having just escaped from the Marines after an exhausting battle, not to mention the past week they've been sailing. They were all silent, mourning the loss of the Strawhat Grand Fleet, who had arrived when the Strawhats were about to fall, having taken out around 1400 of 3000 battleships that had come to fight. Bartolomeo had used his barriers to protect the entire crew from Akainu's magma fist, while telling them to escape, as Usopp, Sanji, Carrot, Jinbe, and Luffy were all unconscious.

"It's hard to believe… isn't it?" Nami asked no one in particular, staring at the Newspaper in front of her. **STRAW HAT GRAND FLEET ANNIHILATED** was written on the front page, causing the entire crew, even the most recent additions Law, Rebecca, Carrot, Marco, and Jinbe, to feel depressed.

"They were good people, Luffy, and we should be proud to have fought with them." Jinbe stated, trying to calm his captain. While the straw-hatted boy seemed calm, the entire crew knew he was heavily affected by the loss of his friends, allies, and family, due to the same bastard that killed his brother.

He wasn't even happy about his devil fruit awakening during his battle with Akainu. Yes, that's right, Luffy had awakened his devil fruit allowing him to stretch non-living things. There was even a time during the battle where one of Akainu's attacks seemed to slowdown, and it wasn't his high speed or observation Haki that caused it. He asked Robin about the event and she theorized that he had been able to stretch the amount of time it took the attack to reach him. He didn't quite understand anything past stretch and time, due to the use of several big words he didn't know the meaning of.

"He'll die for this." Luffy said, in a state both of anger and grief.

"I agree captain, it is only logical that we retaliate due to this severe loss of allies." Law said, not at all happy that his former crew (lead by Bepo) was also destroyed.

"I think what the moron means is that instead of attacking the marines, we go solely after that magma bastard." Sanji said, getting a confirmation nod from Luffy.

"That's crazy! We just lost to the marines, and with the state we're currently in, we might not even be able to get to the next island! Usopp panicked.

"DON'T EXAGGERATE USSOPP!" Nami yelled at the sniper.

"We should possibly see about getting more crewmates. It would certainly help having more capable fighters on hand instead of waiting for allies that could possibly not arrive for days. Now that the fleet is gone; we truly are a lone pirate crew. Not to mention the smallest." Robin pointed out.

"And it's not like we have the time to go back to Paradise, let alone the Blues, to recruit. Then there's the fact that we just loss several crews to the marine, prompting anyone on the next few islands to either turn us in, or avoid our crew entirely." Zoro added.

"And Zou isn't locatable by log pose, Dressrosa has been taken over by marines, and we can't travel to Fishman Island without marines noticing." Rebecca said.

"This isn't super, we don't have many options." Franky said somberly.

"There must be time! Maybe the news hasn't reached the next few islands! It is the New World!" Carrot, the bubbly rabbit mink optimistically said.

"That's just it Carrot." Marco sighed. "This is the New World, so while we are in such a state, it's entirely possible for our crew to be overpowered. It was the same when Pops was alive, except we had hundreds, if not thousands, of members on our main ship, all of which could face at least a marine Captain, and the division commanders capable of fighting an admiral. That was the reason we were able to handle marines and other pirates, despite Pops' poor health."

"Aren't you still in contact with some of your old crew?" Nami asked.

"The divisions easily separated after the War. Only the Division Commanders stayed together for a while, but about half of them retired and the other half are probably hiding right now. We are still being hunted by Akainu." The phoenix replied. "Not to mention Teach is still out there. With him still chasing us, we are essentially fighting a two front war. Both Teach and Akainu are rather tricky in their own right, and we don't necessarily have the experience to face both at once. The only upside is that they aren't allied with one another, but that could change since you took out Kaido and Big Mom, both serious threats to them both."

Luffy suddenly remembered something. "Hey Robin, didn't you say I could stretch time?" he asked. The rest of his crew, minus Robin and chopper looked confused.

"Is this related to your devil fruit awakening?" Chopper asked, this time the rest of the crew was surprised. All of them thinking the same thing, _"Why didn't Luffy say he awakened his fruit?"_

"Luffy came to me shortly after he woke up, asking me about an incident during the battle, he already understands the concept of manipulating non-living things he touches as if they were rubber themselves, but it also seems he can stretch ideologies, such as time, slowing it down like during the event he described, but he might also be able to compress a length of time for it to pass by even faster." She explained, once again causing most of the crew's eyes to widen, except Brook of course. "Why do you ask Luffy?"

"Robin-chan is so intelligent!" Sanji yelled, his eyes like hearts. Unfortunately he was ignored.

"Would it be possible for me to stretch into the past, and take us there?" The rubber captain asked. Surprisingly Law was the one to answer.

"Theoretically it would be like you grappling to a ledge, though I'm not quite sure if it would be easier to pull us into the past, or to compress time and then open a 'door' of some sort." He explained.

Robin was able to follow. "Of course there is no guarantee that either of these things is possible, but if it is possible for us to travel back in time with this method, it may very well alter the present. We would have to tread carefully in our actions or we could end up in a worse situation than the one we are currently in."

"There were some blueprints for time machines at Vegapunk's lab… though all of them required one of the currently missing devil fruits. But all of the research I found alongside those designs stated that it would be impossible for two of the exact same being, genetically, to exist at the same time, unless one is a mere copy of the other." Franky explained.

"There is also the matter of what point in time we would travel back to." Robin said.

"That, I think should be entirely up to Luffy." Zoro firmly said, looking toward the rubber boy. The rest followed his gaze.

Luffy seemed to think deeply for a few moments before he finally spoke his answer. "I'm thinking the best point would be ten years before I left my home island. I want to get some training from Gramps before I leave, not to mention there are a few things that should be done during that time as well."

"If I may ask, why that point in time?" Brook questioned politely.

For once, Luffy's answer was rather thought out. "Because, at that point in time, all of you will exist somewhere in the world, and I know that for a few of you it will mean going through times you may want to forget. Usopp, Zoro, Nami, each of you lost someone important to you, and I want you to see them at least one more time, perhaps there is a chance you can save them. Robin, Franky, Brook, you each have a tragedy happen before this time, but it would be impossible for the rest of us to go back to that time with you, and we aren't even sure if I can take us to different points in time. Uhhhh… my head hurts."

Everyone accepted this as one of the few times Luffy could be smart, then Law spoke up. "Maybe before we even attempt traveling back in time, we should experiment with Luffy's Devil fruit awakening as well as have a plan, we know the time we're trying to go to, but what about the rest of us, should we try to meet up at one point?"

"That would be near impossible, as I had lost my shadow at that point. I could try to retrieve it myself, but without any sense of direction, I would still be lost." Brook explained.

"And I had recently become a warlord. The government will be keeping an eye on me; I cannot just go to the East Blue without a reason." The whale shark Fishman added.

Nami had an idea. "Would it be possible for you to contact Shanks? Maybe get him to help Brook reach the East Blue?" she wondered.

"Excellent idea Nami-chan!" Sanji exclaimed.

"It would be possible, he would have to pass through Fishman Island, and I could easily defeat Moria's zombies. I may just do that, though I can't think of any excuse for myself to travel out of the Grand line. I'll see what I can come up with." The sea knight pondered.

"What about those of us who don't live in the East Blue, or even paradise?" Carrot asked.

"Bepo was able to leave Zou on a mink ship headed for the Sabaody archipelago, and from there he was able to get passage on a trade ship all the way to the North Blue. Not to mention minks, as New World inhabitants are much stronger than most people in the Blues. You could definitely help the crew early on their journey." Law stated, bringing hope to the bunny minks eyes. Despite the devastation Zou experienced during the invasion by Jack and the Beast Pirates, she knew that she would be back in time to help defend her home.

"I think I will use the time I'm back on Drum to learn more about medicine from Doctorine." Chopper stated.

"And I'll use my time back on Water 7 to build a more SUPER version of the Sunny, and to keep an eye on Iceberg, keep him out of trouble and also make sure the government doesn't get the plans to Pluton. I may even burn them as soon as I talk to Iceberg." Franky added.

"I take it Robin, Law, and I will have little to do to actually aid the crew until the first half of the Grand line at least." Rebecca said.

"Speak for yourselves, I am going to experiment with and train my devil fruits ability. I also need to make sure Bepo and the others actually get started on their journey. Don't fear though, I'll make sure they know I have to meet with you all, besides, Chopper shall be adequate enough to heal you until Sabaody." Law stated, causing Rebecca to glare at him annoyed.

"I could actually use some help getting eternal poses, specifically for Alabasta, Drum, Jaya, Punk Hazard, Dressrosa, Water 7 and any other islands you think we'll need to go to." Nami said.

"Why not, it sure beats just sitting around waiting." Robin smiled.

"Well, now that we have a plan, how about we get to training." Zoro said.

Two weeks past, and Luffy had gotten use to his power awakening, though Sanji got annoyed with him stretching the doors of the fridge open. It was getting close to the time for them to be sent back. As it turns out, Law was right about needing to open a 'door'. Luffy was able to stretch just about anything at this point, with the elements, except ice and earth, being the only things he cannot stretch. Luffy was able to learn how to stretch open a portal that would 'link' them to their past selves, giving their past selves all the memories and experience of their present day forms. Finally it was time to go back in time. Luffy stretched open a portal in front of the ship, prompting Franky to steer the ship towards it. Once the last of the Sunny had past the threshold everything went black.

 **That's the end of Chapter 1. Please tell me what you think. Note, I will accept only constructive comments, no "This sucks" and other similar comments. Feel free to make suggestions for crewmate, though I already have a decent idea of who I want to join. I may also look for a beta-reader later.**

 **Anyways, I know Marco, Carrot, and Rebecca are not part of the crew, but I think each of them fit rather well with the Strawhats. There are several theories going around involving Monet not being dead, and Carrot eating the Snow Snow fruit. For this story, Monet has died on Punk Hazard, and Carrot will not eat the Snow Snow fruit even if she does in canon.** **I am not sure if I want a pairing, but I will make a poll on my profile for you guys to decide.**

 **As for Luffy awakening his fruit, he can stretch non-living things. The only things he cannot stretch are things he cannot physically grasp as a solid. While you can argue that Time is not a thing he can physically grasp, I will argue that Time is technically not a 'thing' at all.**

 **Last thing, I promise, my updates will not be regularly scheduled. I use to have a system where I write 4 to 5 chapters at once and update 1 on the weekends, then write when I have time. With my job I cannot do that as my schedule isn't necessarily set. I also have some other story ideas that I was to work on so… yeah. I may work on my other story some, but I posted it so long ago and have avoided writing since then, not to mention I lost all the documents on my computer. You may have noticed I do not like non-dialogue exposition; I am working on this, but may ask for a co-writer to help in the future. So, once again, updates will not be constant.**


	2. Chapter 2 Before the Journey

**Ok, here's Chapter 2. I was surprised at how well Chapter 1 was received. As for the Poll, that will be left up for two more chapters. Please review if you have any suggestions for crewmates, or if you have any critiques about how I can make my writing better.**

 **As always I do not own One Piece, and no Devil fruit will ever make that happen.**

 **(Zoro POV)**

"Uhhh… How much did I drink last night? Usually I don't get any form of hangover; must have been some strong booze." The swordsman said, before noticing two things were different. "Why is my voice so high!? And… did Chopper somehow fix my eye?" It was then that he saw he was in a vaguely familiar forest. He looked down, realizing his three katana were missing. "Wait…" he began to remember. "Was Luffy really able to do it? Am I really back in time?" He decided he would look around a bit. After stumbling around in the forest for a few hours, he finally heard the noise of boken hitting boken. "The Dojo!" he exclaimed. _"Can I actually see Kuina again?"_ he thought, running towards the noises.

All across the seas, many others woke up in similar situations.

 **(Nami POV)**

"Nami… time to wake up?" I familiar voice said, shaking the orange haired girl.

Said girl slowly opened her eyes, instantly taking in her surroundings. _"I'm home?"_ she thought. Continuing to look around, she noticed the presence of a woman with a fuchsia Mohawk. "Bellmere?" she asked, starting to tear up.

"Nami dear… What's wrong?" she asked, seeing the tears of her adoptive daughter.

"Nothing." She responded, while internally she was rejoicing. _"That lovable idiot actually did it. He sent us back in time!"_

"Nami, why don't you get ready? Nojiko and I were thinking about spending the day on the beach." Bellmere said with a smile.

"Ok."

 **(Sanji POV)**

"Where am I?" the blond cook asked, looking around the rocky area. "Nami? Robin? Rebecca? Carrot? Idiots?"

"Brat! You see a ship yet!?" a gruff voice yelled.

" _Ship?... Zeff? Did that rubber moron actually do it? I shouldn't be surprised at this point, but managing to send us back… Wait…"_ Sanji then took notice of the steep cliffs and a small amount of food on a rag, next to some tally marks. Not only was he without any of his mellorines, but he was also stuck to relive one of his most horrible experiences, not as bad as either his earlier childhood or the Okama kingdom, but terrible for the chef.

It was at this point when Zeff heard several creative curses involving rubber, an idiot, and a few new recipes. It seemed as if Sanji had finally snapped. "And only after three days." Zeff said, shaking his head, wondering what he would do with the boy he had saved.

 **(Usopp POV)**

Usopp woke up. He was already aware he was sent back in time, due to his mother waking him up. Although he was happy about seeing his mother again, he knew there was no way to prevent the disease that would eventually take her life. _"I swear Luffy, I won't be as cowardly as I was last time."_ He thought, getting up to go see his old pirate base and hopefully introduce himself to Kaya.

 **(Chopper POV)**

" _Ok, now I just need to make sure the Doctor and I meet so I can once again study medicine."_ The human reindeer thought, using his walk point to quickly traverse the snow. _"Though I still don't know enough to cure him… Should I even try to cure him? His death inspired the doctors of this country, Doctorine, and myself. He said it himself, he lived a marvelous life."_

After another few minutes of silence and internal debate, Chopper came to a halt. The blue nosed reindeer silently began to cry, having made his choice, not proud of the fact that the one he wanted to help the most was the one he couldn't save. With arguably his most difficult decision yet having been made, he shifted into his heavy point and headed for the village, knowing very well what he needed to do.

 **(Robin POV)**

Robin woke up in the brig of a ship. "Apparently I'm a prisoner at this point in time." She stated calmly. "No matter, it isn't like I got to choose at what point I was sent back too, I'll simply escape and head for the Grand line. I do need to get those Eternal poses for Nami, and maybe I can help prevent some of the disaster in Alabasta this time. It is incredible a paramecia type Devil fruit that affects the body is capable of this though. Perhaps I should thank Luffy when I see him, as this situation does give me a chance to correct some of my past mistakes." She then proceeded to use her power to snatch the keys, subdue the crew, and sail the ship, beginning to head for the Grand line.

 **(Franky POV)**

"Man, I must've partied SUPER hard. Hope the Sunny wasn't damaged to bad; we sometimes get carried away." He groggily said, getting off his bed. Looking around, he noticed he was in an old ship bay, more specifically the one he grew up in. "So Luffy was actually able to do it. Vegapunk may be a master of machines, but even he couldn't travel through time." He began to think. "Maybe this time the Franky family will go straight, dismantling ships that are irreparable and recycling the wood. Of course I'll need some dough if I'm going to build a more SUPER Thousand Sunny, and bounties are the easiest way to do it." Obviously he was stuck between two difficult choices. Finally he came to a conclusion. "I don't see any reason we can't do both. Let the pirates spend money on a new ship, then capture anyone with a bounty, and dismantle the ship depending on the number of crew members left. Easy, and it profits both myself and the city." He then adopted a more serious face. "First things first though, I need to go talk to Iceburg." With that last thought he went out, heading for the dockyard.

 **(Rebecca POV)**

The Spartan woman, or rather, future Spartan woman easily woke up in her father's home. While she wasn't use to being a child again, she accepted it, knowing what the future was to hold, and was happy to see her mother once again. She had roughly a year before Doflamingo and his terrible crew came and took over. "I need to protect my home, but I need to send Luffy the eternal pose. He said the crew was to meet in eight years at the Party's Bar on Dawn Island, so I'll send it there, along with a note." She told herself before going to find her father, she decided to go ahead and start on her training, with some help.

 **(Law POV)**

Somewhere in the North Blue, a certain Surgeon awoke with a massive headache. "Damn, what did Luffy do? I never wake up feeling like this unless we either sparred, or he dragged me into one of his parties." It was several minutes before his headache went down enough for him to actually remember what happened. "Oh… right. Well I'd better start looking for my old crew, how else am I going to practice my Devil fruit powers." He said, smiling cruelly.

 **(Carrot POV)**

Waking up on Zou was something Carrot personally enjoyed. She would wake up, meet with her friend Wanda, and they would either spar or play, alternating each day. Today however, Carrot didn't really want to leave her bed. "Oh Luffy, a picnic on the beach, just for the two of us?" she mumbled, still fast asleep.

"CARROT! GET UP!" someone yelled. The bunny girl shot up, looking around. She realized she was back on Zou and that the person calling her was her best friend.

"Wanda! Don't scare me like that!" she whined.

"Sorry, but you wouldn't get up." The dog mink apologized. "Who's Luffy by the way? You kept mumbling that name in your sleep."

Carrot blushed. "I'm… not sure how to answer that." This caused the older mink to smirk.

"Ohhh, does someone have a crush?" She asked. At a blank stare, Wanda decided to tease her a bit. "Well if he's got your attention, then maybe I should meet him."

"WANDA!" The bunny mink yelled, hoping to draw away from that certain conversation, She remembered how much Wanda like Luffy after meeting him in the future, and she didn't want any competition. The dog mink just laughed as the two went to get on with their day. Of course Carrot was amazed that she had really gone back in time, and hoped everyone else had as well.

 **(Jimbe POV)**

Jimbe awoke in his home on Fishman Island. At first he was alert, thinking he had been separated from his crew, that was until he remembered the battle, the loss, and eventually traveling back in time. He went over to the table, where a newspaper was sitting. "Knight of the Sea Jimbe Newest Warlord" He read. "I remember this day, the day after my appointment of Warlord. The day Arlong was supposed to be released. Hopefully that hasn't changed." He began to think. _"Luffy was actually able to do it? No matter I need to contact Shanks and get him to help Brook."_ He began to head out, preparing to leave for the Sabaody Archipelago, the current location of the Red Hair Pirates.

After leaving Fishman Island, Jimbe was hurrying towards the surface, hoping to catch up to the Emperor. It wasn't long before he reached the giant roots of the Hustle Muscle Mangrove trees, and noticed plenty of ships docked around them. It took a while for the fishman to find the one he was looking for.

Jumping up on the deck, Jimbe was met with both swords and guns pointed in his direction. "What is the newest Warlord doing on the ship of an Emperor?" a tall, long haired man asked. Jimbe recognized him as Benn Beckman, Shanks' first mate.

"I do not wish to fight; I have a request of your Captain." He answered.

"And what is this request?" Ben asked.

"Men, lower your weapons!" A voice called. Out of the door to the cabin came a man with tomato red hair. "He is a guest, and I would like to hear what he has to say."

"Thank you Red Hair. I heard you were heading to the East Blue." Jimbe stated.

"That's true, but why do you care?" Shanks asked.

"I have a friend trapped in the Florian Triangle, who needs help reaching the East Blue." The fishman stated.

"Alright, come inside and give me the details, because anyone who makes it that far in the grand line can't simply need directions." Shanks said, bringing a smile to the Warlords face.

" _Luffy was right, Shanks is a kind man."_

 **(Marco POV)**

Marco woke up like he did every morning on the Moby Dick, angry at Thatch. It seemed the pompadour chef never realized Marco was not a morning person. He already accepted he went back in time, due to his regenerative powers preventing any sort of headache or confusion, but waking up due to a paint bomb painting him pink was enough to piss him off. He left his room to search for the prankster chef, but he never forgot what his mission was, to keep an eye on Blackbeard, at least until he left the ship.

" _There better be a good reason I can't stop that bastard Luffy yoi."_

 **(Brook POV)**

Being a living skeleton sucked sometimes. Brook could see everything that happened. Once the Sunny passed through the portal everything around them disappeared. It was an endless black tunnel for a short while before a bright light appeared in front of them. He saw his crewmates one by one disappear before he landed on the ship he called hell for years. He only took comfort in knowing that the others knew where he was, and that they would soon come for him, perhaps not defeating Moria, but at least getting his shadow back and getting him to the East Blue. There he will rejoin his Captain and shortly after, fulfill his promise to Laboon. "I sure hope it doesn't take too long for Red Hair-san to get here." He said, before pulling out his violin.

Three weeks past until the day Brook was waiting for arrived. The Red force had ended up passing his ship, due to the Captain sensing his presence. Jumping down to the ship, he immediately jumped back, avoiding the sword strike from a random pirate.

"Wait! Friendly! Friendly!" He screamed.

"Brook?" Jimbe said, leaving the cabin. He had sailed with the Red Haired Pirates since Sabaody.

"Ah, Jimbe, glad you could make it." Brook said. Another man, who Brook presumed was Shanks, followed Jimbe out of the cabin.

"So this is the friend that needed help. You never mentioned he was a skeleton. How is that anyway?" Shanks asked.

"I ate the Revive Revive fruit, so once I died; I was able to return from the afterlife. Unfortunately my first crew had perished with me and our ship was set adrift. By the time I found my body, only my bones and Afro remained." Brook explained. "My name is Brook, what's yours?" the skeleton introduced.

"Shanks, Captain of the Red Haired Pirates. Now Brook, Jimbe has explained the situation involving your shadow, and we'll be happy to help you find it. Of course, if we were to fight a Warlord, the Government will be after us, so we'll let you and Jimbe handle it once we find the island, or was it a ship?" Shanks responded.

"It is both. Thriller Bark is an island from the West Blue turned into a ship. Now, finding the island and providing me a ride to Dawn Island would greatly be appreciated." Brook finished.

"I don't think that will be a problem." The captain laughingly said.

With Brook and Jimbe united, the Red-Haired pirates began the search for the zombie filled ship.

 **(Luffy POV)**

Waking up in a bar was something most seven year olds never experience. Monkey D. Luffy was not like most seven year olds. "Uhhhh… Sanji, make me breakfast." He moaned. After several more moans of hunger, Luffy decided he would go get some food himself.

As he descended the stairs he heard a feminine voice speak. "Good morning Luffy, would you like some pancakes?"

"Morning Makino… Wait? MAKINO!? How'd you get on my ship?" Luffy asked.

"Did you have that pirate dream again?" The barmaid asked, laughing. Unfortunately she was being ignored, as Luffy had begun to think.

" _Something weird is going on. Where's my crew? Why am I back on Dawn Island? Last thing I remember is… ohhhhh. I traveled back in time."_ He realized.

"Luffy?" Makino asked.

"Sorry Makino, I zoned out. Yes I would love some pancakes." And with that, the future pirate king sat down and began eating. _"So now I just need to wait for Shanks to show up. Most of my crew will meet me in a few years, but I'll be pretty busy. I wonder if Brook will come with Shanks?"_ and thus, a train of thought that would be derailed within an hour began.

Two months later, Luffy finally saw the Red Force pull into the port of Fushia Village. Luffy was of course running towards the large ship, eager to see one of his nakama, and get his treasure once again. Nearing the port, he began to notice less and less people around, until he was right by the pirates. Standing over the crowd of pirates was a familiar, afro-sporting skeleton. "Brook!" Luffy cheered.

"Luffy!" Brook also cheered. Shanks and the rest of his crew were confused as to how this skeleton they recently traveled with knew this child.

"How do you two know each other?" Ben asked.

Luffy just laughed before he answered. "Tell ya later, I want to talk with my friend here." Shanks, while curious, decided not to pry. Instead he asked where he and his crew could get something to eat, which Luffy directed them to Party's Bar.

Makino was terrified, not because of the pirates in her bar, but because of the Living skeleton asking for her panties. Luckily Shanks kicked him into a wall for asking his new crush such a question, all the while Luffy just laughed. Seeing how terrified the woman was, Brook offered to play a song, just to help alleviate the mood. He had a few pirates go grab his piano and set it up in the bar. After a heartfelt rendition of Bink's Brew everyone was in high spirits.

Over the next nine months, Shanks and his crew went on a few voyages around the East Blue. Brook had become a rather popular musician in the village, but was always hanging around Luffy. Makino had some trouble getting use to a skeleton living in her guest room, but he made up for it by drawing people into her bar, as well as generally lightening the mood whenever he played.

Finally the day Luffy ate his Devil fruit came, it had been weird having the memories of using his fruit without actually having his rubber body. "So Luffy, despite showing how brave you were by stabbing yourself under the eye." Shanks deadpanned. "I can't take you with me on my voyage. How about you tell me how you and the skeleton know each other, we've been asking for months."

"Alright Shanks, the truth is, Brook and I are from the future. I had my own pirate crew and Brook was our musician." Luffy said.

"I'm sorry Anchor, but that is completely unbelievable." Shanks laughed. Brook looked over from where he was sitting, on the other side of Luffy.

"It's true Shanks; Luffy was the one to rescue me in the first timeline. It's also the reason Jimbe and I know each other." Brook added. Upon hearing this, the usually drunk captain decided to believe them. He had grown close enough to the two to know Luffy wasn't a very good liar, and Brook was never dishonest in the first place. The rest of the crew followed.

"You mean Luffy managed to recruit a Warlord!?" Ben asked, he and the rest of the crew had shocked looks on their faces.

"Well, I've met all the Warlords at one point or another. That's not the point though; I had a relatively small crew, about fourteen people, so we typically got into trouble." Luffy said.

"You made it through Paradise and met all the Warlords with only 14 people!" Shanks yelled, wondering how strong Luffy's crew actually was.

"Actually I was the last one before Sabaody, and I was the ninth member of the crew." Brook said. Shanks just went slack-jawed, vowing to never get on this kids bad side.

"Well these are pirates? Pathetic." A gruff voice said from the doorway. There standing was a rather shaggy looking man followed by a bunch of similarly dressed thugs. The man in front was looking around.

"Who's that Luffy?" Brook asked, not knowing much about his young captain's life before setting out.

Before the boy could answer the shaggy man spotted him. "What's this, what kind of freaky costume are you wearing? Actually, never mind, I don't care. Hey wench, give me and my men ten barrels of sake."

Makino looked at the man with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I just ran out."

"Then what are these pirates drinking? Tap water?" the man mocked.

"I'm sorry, it looks like me and my crew drank the last of it." Shanks said before taking the bottle and bringing it closer to the group. "Feel free to have this as an apology." Luffy took this time to re-eat the Gum Gum Fruit and Brook just watched in fascination.

The man took his sword and broke the bottle, spilling sake all over the floor and counter. "Do you know who I am? I am Higuma the Bear, a mountain bandit with a bounty of eight million. One bottle won't be enough to quench my or my men's thirst."

"Sorry Makino, there's sake all over the place." Shanks apologized to the barmaid, grabbing a rag to help clean.

"It's alright Shanks."

The bandit was irritated at the blatant disregard of his presence. "You like to clean, then clean this!" he shouted, swinging his sword toward the counter. His swing was blocked however, by a thin, straight blade.

Looking at the swords wielder, Higuma saw the same skeleton 'costumed' man from earlier, preventing the counter from being hacked. "Now that is rude. This man offers you some of his sake and you waste it, mocking him for treating this place with a decent amount of respect. People like you make me sick." Brook said.

The bandit scoffed. "Whatever." Then he and his lackeys left, returning to whatever crappy base they had.

With the bandits gone, Shanks turned to Brook. "Thanks for the help, though it wasn't necessary." He said.

"I didn't do it for you. He was trying to damage Makino's bar, something that would have cost quite a bit for her to fix. I did it because I am a gentleman." Brook answered.

Shanks began to laugh, that is until he saw the chest sitting on the counter. With a panicked expression he ran over and checked its contents, discovering the missing fruit. "What happened to the Devil fruit?!"

Luffy laughed. "I ate it."

Shanks turned to the boy, quickly grabbing his legs and shaking him upside down. "Spit it out! Do you know what you just ate?!"

"The Gum-Gum fruit." He said, acting like it wasn't a big deal. "I ate it the last time too, even awakened it. Can you stop shaking me now?" He asked, his legs having stretched, causing his head to hit the floor.

Shanks paused. "Oh right. I forgot you guys said you were from the future. Mind telling me the whole story?" And so the two time travelers did, telling the story well into the evening.

Two weeks past. Luffy was sitting in Party's Bar with Makino. Brook had run over to Goa earlier that day upon hearing the news of a new music store, one which could custom make an electric guitar. He had gathered a bit of money performing both in the streets and private parties; even a few of the more wealthy residents of Goa had personally requested he play. Shanks and his crew had left Fushia over a week ago, going on yet on another journey on the relatively calm sea.

"No pirates today, huh?" A voice asked. Luffy looked over towards the door of the bar, seeing the stupid mountain bandits from before.

"Welcome gentlemen. What can I do for you?" Makino politely greeted, walking over to take the groups order.

"Some food and sake. Then perhaps you and I could go somewhere more private." Higuma said.

"I'm sorry, but I will have to decline." The barmaid responded.

As she turned away, the bandit leader grabbed her arm, forcibly keeping her in place. "Listen bitch, I wasn't asking. Now get our food, and then well get started. Forget privacy now, I'll let my entire band have some fun with you." Makino was visibly shaking now.

"Hey assholes! Leave her alone!" Luffy yelled, angry at what this bastard was implying.

"And what are you going to do brat? I see you don't have that costumed freak, or those pirates to protect you." Higuma mocked.

"I don't need Brook, or Shanks to deal with you!" The young boy proclaimed. While it was normally true, Luffy hadn't regained full control of his haki, nor had he built up his strength to what it was in the future.

"Oh yeah, then why don't you prove it!" the bandit shouted.

This led to Luffy being dragged to the village fountain, where the bandit leader began beating him, two of his lackeys holding the child down. Makino, of course had gone to get the mayor, and the two had just arrived on the scene, a crowd already having formed. "Let the child go! We'll give you money, supplies, anything you want." The old man offered.

"Forget it! This kid opened his mouth and now he has to pay. Though his body sure is strange, perhaps I could sell him to some noble as a plaything." Higuma cruelly suggested.

"I wondered why no one came to greet us at the docks." A voice said. The crowd split, revealing Shanks and his crew. "What happened Luffy? I thought you were stronger than some low-bounty thug." Shanks mocked.

"I am Shanks, but they outnumbered me, and I'm still not use to this body." Luffy complained. While the civilians, excluding Makino, thought he was referring to his devil fruit, Shanks knew he was talking about his younger body. "Besides, while I'm glad you came to help, there's no need; my backup's already arrived." The boy smirked.

At this, everyone was confused, none more so than the bandit leader. "Backup? Where?" he said, looking around.

"Three Verse Humming…" a voice said. Suddenly, Brook showed up in the middle of the bandits, his sword drawn. Taken by surprise, several of the bandits went to attack the sudden entity. "… Arrow Knot Slash!"

Once again, everyone was surprised when all of Higuma's lackeys were suddenly cut up and knocked out. "So fast! I didn't see him move! I thought he was just a musician!" Several random people exclaimed.

Higuma began to panic. "Wh… Wha… What are you?"

Brook simply ignored the man, choosing to address his captain instead. "Are you ok Luffy? I was only gone for a couple of hours. Looks like you got into quite a conundrum."

"I'm fine Brook, and I wouldn't be in this situation if that bastard didn't try to force himself on Makino." Luffy said.

Shanks and Brook both became angry. "HE. DID. WHAT!?" they both yelled, rage evident on their faces.

"Said his men could have a turn as well." Luffy added, now everyone was pissed at the bandit.

The bandit leader knew he was screwed. His men were down; he was up against a brat, a freaky skeleton, an entire pirate crew and he obviously wouldn't survive the fight. Seeing no other choice, the coward grabbed the nearest person, the kid he was beating on a couple of minutes ago, and through down a smoke bomb. Blinded and coughing, no one saw the bandit flee. Once the smoke cleared, Shanks and Brook were shocked. "LUFFY!" they yelled worriedly.

In a small boat off the village's coat, Higuma had Luffy in his hands, dangling over the water. "No one would expect a mountain bandit to escape to the sea. Now die brat!" he said, letting go. Once Luffy hit the water, a massive shape rose above the water's surface. The water broke, revealing the Lord of the Coast, who proceeded to eat Higuma and the boat he was standing on.

Having finished his snack, the Lord of the Coast turned towards the child who struggling to stay above the water. Rushing towards its new target, the beast prepared to strike. As it was about to gobble up what it presumed was an easy meal, it felt a chill. Holding its food was a bigger human with red hair. It was Shanks, but that was unknown to the creature. "Get out of here." The pirate said, his voice laced with conquerors haki. The beast, for once feeling like prey instead of predator, fled, taking the red haired human's arm.

"Luffy, are you alright?" He asked.

Luffy however, was distraught. He had hoped Shanks wouldn't lose his arm this time. "Don't worry about me! Your arm Shanks, your arm!" he cried.

"An arm isn't worth your life Luffy. I'll be fine." With that, the pirate captain dragged the boy back to the village.

A few days later, Shanks and his men were preparing to set out. Luffy, Brook, and Makino had gone to see him off. "So you're finally heading back to the new world?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah, we've been using this village as our base for a little too long now. The marine won't take too kindly to our presence." Shanks said.

"How about we meet again in the New World, and have a fight to see which one of us is stronger?" Luffy said.

"I accept your challenge Luffy, just prepare to lose. I won't go easy on you." The captain responded.

"As the future Pirate King, I can't lose." Luffy stated.

"If that's the case, then why don't you hang on to this." Shanks said, taking off the straw hat he wore, and handed it to the boy. "Return that to me when we meet again, until then, take good care of it."

Luffy looked at the straw hat in his hands. "I will Shanks, I promise."

"Good." He said before turning towards his crew. "Alright men, load up the ship and to set sail!"

"Roger captain!" A chorus of pirates responded.

Luffy then had an idea. "Hey Shanks. Would you mind if I got your transponder snail's number?"

The Emperor turned to look at the boy. "That shouldn't be a problem." He said, pulling out two pieces of paper. He wrote a number on one and handed both to Luffy. "Here you go; I'm also giving you my vivre card, so when you reach the new world there won't be any problem finding us."

With final goodbyes, the Red Haired pirates left for the New World.

The next few months were quiet. Luffy had begun re-training his haki, and already was able to knock several large beasts out at once. His armament and observation haki had also been brought up to about half of what it had been after the two year training. Brook had helped Luffy increase his speed, and had begun training his own haki, something he hadn't done much before time traveling. It was now nearing one year since the Strawhat Pirates had come to this time, and Luffy was looking forward to this day, as his grandfather Monkey D Garp would be coming to take him to Dadan, and better yet, his brothers.

Sitting in the empty Party Bar with Brook and Makino, Luffy sensed a rather strong presence approaching, knowing just who it belonged to. "Luffy, get out here!" the straw-hatted boy heard, recognizing the voice of his grandfather. Said man then proceeded to bust through the wall. "Here you are Luffy, you're coming with me. I can't let you stay here, who knows what other pirates will come and corrupt you like Red Hair did."

"Shanks didn't corrupt me, he saved my life. Besides, we both know I can't become a marine." Luffy argued.

Garp was shocked. "What are you talking about?" he asked, while on the inside he was thinking something else. _"Does he know who his father is?"_

The young boy argued with himself, debating whether or not he should tell his Grandfather he was from the future. In the end, he decided he couldn't risk it, as the man standing before him was almost as bad a liar as he was, on top of not being able to keep a secret. "I don't know why, I just feel as if the higher ups will hate me, even though I never did anything to them." He stated.

"Luffy… I'm sorry you feel that way, and I want what's best for you, but you are becoming a marine, so come with me." Garp said firmly.

Luffy did as Garp said, putting up no fight, as he was too excited to see Ace again. While walking through the forest Luffy decided now would be the time to ask what he wanted to ask. "Hey Gramps, marines are strong right? I heard there were these six awesome powers that they know. Can you teach me them?"

"You want to learn the six powers?" the old man asked.

"Yes, even if I don't become a marine, they would still be useful when I'm trying to protect those I care about." The child said.

Garp just sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if you took more after your mother than your father, and while you have his idiotic dislike of marines, you also have your mother's sense of morality. I'll teach you the powers, but there's someone I want to introduce you too." Luffy cheered.

Like Luffy remembered, Garp took him to Dadan's place where he met Ace, and had begun following him whenever he could. Garp had promised to train him, but needed a month so he could get a proper period of time he could dedicate to his Grandson. In this time Luffy had met Sabo, befriended Ace, and had become brothers with the two. He had also gotten Brook to take care of the Bluejam Pirates, whose treasure was split, giving half to Ace and Sabo for their ship, and the other half to the people in grey terminal.

When Garp returned, he was surprised at how well Luffy and Ace were getting along, along with the appearance of Sabo, who he happily welcomed to the family upon Luffy's explanation, and begun the threes training. Garp had convinced Sengoku to give him three months off to train his grandson, but he was shocked at how much Luffy was able to learn, only having to go over the basics of each technique before the rubber child had enough of an understanding to practice. Ace and Sabo, while not exactly as fast of learners as Luffy, were still able to become novices in the six powers at the end of the three months.

Once his three months off were over, Garp tearfully left his Grandsons, biological and adopted, accepting that they'll never be Marines, as no matter what, he was unable to convince them. With Garp gone, the trio of brothers began their training. Luffy had introduced them to Makino and Brook, but he never explained he and Brook were from the future. This lead to the same events from the first time, except Sabo's parents had hired a more capable crew to abduct his blond brother. Sabo's abduction, the fire of Grey Terminal, and the supposed 'death of Sabo all happened like he remembered. All of it drove Luffy and Ace to train harder until Ace left on his seventeenth birthday.

Eight years since the Straw hats travelled through time, it was finally time for the designated crewmembers to meet at the Party bar. Four ships docked at Fushia village, each one containing at least one of the Strawhats. On one of the small boats sat a male and a female, the female berating the male. "I cannot believe that in eight years, you have yet to improve your sense of direction!" the Female yelled. "I'm serious Zoro; I don't want to have to drag you everywhere because you lack all directional sense!" They had been arguing ever since she had picked the swordsman up after seeing him sailing in the complete opposite direction.

Roronoa Zoro seemed like an average swordsman at first glance, if you ignored the aura he gave off and the three swords by his side.

"For your information Nami, I always end up where I need to, what's the point of knowing the direction when the destination is always the same!?" Zoro stupidly asked, causing the orange haired girl to visibly cringe.

Four figures approached, one of them began to yell. "Oi Marimo! Stop yelling at Nami-chan. We got to meet Luffy."

"What did you say dartboard brow?!" Zoro yelled.

Nami however looked at the rest of the group. "Usopp! Carrot! Glad to see you!" She said.

"Umm… Carrot, who are these people?" The fourth figure answered. She was not seen by Nami, as she had hidden behind the corner of a building, not trusting these strangers.

"Don't worry Wanda, they're my friends. I promise if you follow us, everything will be explained." The bunny mink said. Wanda trusted her judgement and agreed to follow.

The group walked up to Party's Bar, none of them looked to different from before they time traveled, with the exception of a couple of scars. Usopp had the biggest change, as he was more muscular that he was when he first met Luffy. Zoro entered the bar first, then Nami, followed by Usopp and Sanji, with the two minks bringing up the rear. "Guy's!" a voice yelled, welcoming the group. It was Luffy, standing in the middle of the room, Brook sitting at the bar, four boxes set near him.

"Luffy!" Carrot yelled, enveloping the rubber teen in a normally bone crushing hug, much to Sanji's dismay.

Wanda watched the exchange. _"This is Luffy. He's rather cute, for a lesser Mink."_ She thought.

Luffy then noticed Wanda. Turning to Carrot he asked. "Does she know?"

"Not yet. I wasn't sure how to explain it." Carrot said.

Nami heard this and sighed. "I should have known, you two were always close when we went to Zou."

Wanda was confused. "You've been to Zou? When?" She asked.

"We're from the future, so we technically haven't been yet." Brook said.

"It was a surprising capability of the Gum Gum fruits awakened power." Zoro said. The gathered Strawhats then spent the next couple of hours telling the dog mink everything that happened.

"So Luffy, are those from Marco?" Usopp asked, pointing to the boxes. The three boxes were from someone named Phoenix, a pseudonym Marco would use to send objects from the Grand line that the crew would need.

"Yep, he was able to get everything you and Nami needed. And look, Rebecca sent us an eternal pose for Dressrosa." Luffy said.

Nami went over and took the pose, setting it far away from the destructive teen, before opening one of the boxes. "Alright, now that I've got some weather eggs, I just need my climatat."

"These pop greens and dials will also help me in combat!" Usopp cheered.

Brook suddenly piped up. "Oh, Zoro, I almost forgot, I grabbed you something from Thriller Bark. It's been sitting upstairs for so long, I thought I might have left it." He ran upstairs to the room he stayed in for the past eight years and grabbed a sheath, bringing it back down to the swordsman.

"Shusui? How'd you get it?" the green haired swordsman asked.

(Flashback)

 _It was dark as always on Thriller Bark. Jimbe and Brook were moving stealthily through the forest, using their respective abilities to free hundreds of shadows from their prisons._

" _Are you sure your zombie is in the mansion?" the fishman asked, sending another blast of salt water towards a group of zombies._

" _Yes, the zombie holding my shadow is what Moria called a zombie general. These generals are powerful zombies who capture strong people for their shadows, and guard important locations. Mine was in charge of guarding doctor Hogback's lab." Brook answered._

 _The two Strawhats proceeded to the mansion, managing to take down most of the surprise zombies inside. They reached the lab, finding only a single zombie inside. "Yohohoho. So, you've come to reclaim your shadow have you?"_

 _Brook looked at the zombie. "Jimbe, I was unable to defeat this foe before, so would you kindly stay out of this fight, I must do this alone." He said._

 _Jimbe relaxed a bit, not fully dropping his guard, but enough to signify he wouldn't interfere. "Very well, this fight is yours. Although I assume other zombies are coming, due to the amount we took out before. I'll prevent any interruptions from happening." The fishman said, stepping into the hall._

 _Now, with only Brook and the zombie Ryuma, the two prepared to duel. "It's pointless you know. I have all of your memories; I know all your techniques." The zombie exclaimed, unsheathing his sword... "Three verse humming…"_

" _I wouldn't be so sure of that." Brook responded, getting ready for an attack of his own. "Aubade…"_

" _Arrow Knot Slash!" The Zombie called._

 _A second before it hit, Brook called. "Right-handed Strike!" Ryuma had to adjust his blade, using the side to block. What he wasn't expecting was a shockwave to send him flying towards the wall. Outside the room, the two could clearly hear the sound of rushing water and the cries of zombies. "Sounds like your fellow zombies aren't doing so well against my friend." Brook stated._

" _How?! I have your memories! You never used that move before, nor have you ever met a fishman! HOW!?" Ryuma yelled._

 _Brook however had run up the wall, jumping off before shouting. "Swallow Bond Avant!" The overhead strike was barely avoided, though Ryuma had taken a shallow cut on the arm._

" _Three Verse Humming…" the zombie tried again._

" _Grazing Song: Blizzard Cut!" Brook called. Ryuma couldn't follow the man, as he had disappeared from his view. "I'll be taking my shadow and that sword, if you would hand them over please."_

 _Ryuma turned around, seeing the skeleton. "Nev…" he started, but he was shocked when he was cut across the chest, the slash freezing his body. "This body was undefeated in life; I have dishonored it by losing." He said shocked. "Very well, take your shadow; I will not dishonor this body any longer."_

 _With the zombie's final words, Brook's shadow flew from the husk and reattached itself to Brook. "Oh, my shadow, I'm so happy to have you back!" Brook exclaimed before going to pick up the sword. "Zoro will need this. Jimbe, we're done here, let's go!"_

" _Hai." The fishman responded. The two then proceeded to fight their way back to the Red Force._

(Present time)

"I remembered how much stronger you got when you had that sword. I decided you could use it sooner rather than later. It still took a while to get to you though." Brook laughed.

"That's great Brook, now what have the rest of you been up too?" Luffy asked.

Nami spoke first. "Six years ago Arlong came to Cocoyashi. I made the same deal as last time, one hundred million beri for my village's freedom, but I added the condition that I pay for my family's survival. I'm at about seventy million now, but I know he won't try to take it. I should get close enough to the goal in about two years. As for training, I haven't been able to unlock my haki, nor could I work with my climatat."

Zoro went next. "I met up with a friend of mine from the dojo, my greatest rival. Despite my knowledge from the future, we still tied five hundred times before I beat her. Her father's told her she can't become a swordsman since she's a girl, so she gave me Wado Ichimonji. I asked her if she wanted to join me in my bounty hunts, but she wanted to train some more. She is open to the idea of joining a crew, and has recently moved to Shells town. I also ran into Johnny and Yosaku, but they're still roaming around, I just don't know where. I have been able to restore both types of haki to what they were at before."

The rest of the group, except Wanda told what they've been doing. Usopp was keeping an eye on Kuro, as he couldn't outright attack him, mixed with some training. He had been hanging around Kaya a bit more and had trained his observational haki back to what it was at before. Sanji had stayed working at the Baratie, and was technically supposed to be getting groceries at the moment, like Usopp, he had restored his observational haki. Carrot was the last to go; she had, with Wanda's help, become slightly stronger and had better control over Electro. Luffy was proud of how far his crew had come. "Now that we know where we're at strength wise, next thing we need to discuss are possible recruits." Luffy said. He had spent some time at the library, mostly because Makino was horrified when he told her he never really had a plan when he traveled.

"As I said, my friend is open to the idea of joining a crew. Her name is Kuina and she wants to become a world renowned swordswoman. She focuses more on speed based attacks than strength, so I think she would benefit from Yubashiri's light weight." Zoro stated. "Johnny and Yosaku might also be willing to join if we run into them again."

"My sister and mother love life on Cocoyashi, but with how the government will become, I'm afraid of them being targeted." Nami said.

"The only people I can think of are Gin and Alvida. Problem is, Gin is loyal to Kreig, and Alvida will be allied to Buggy, though it seemed like a loose alliance at best." Sanji said.

Carrot simply pointed at Wanda. "Since Wanda is already here, she's joining, but I think our some of our friends back on Zou might be willing to join when we get there."

Usopp thought for a moment. "A strategist would help, but I don't want Kuro on the crew, and I don't think Kaya will like having the life of a pirate. So I have no clue as to who we should try to recruit." Brook was the same, having no idea of who could join the crew.

"So a strategist isn't a bad idea Usopp." Nami said. "Kuro is the best strategist we know, but I agree that he isn't exactly someone we can trust."

The Strawhats talked for a while longer before those from the East Blue had to leave. Nami back to her home in Cocoyashi, Usopp to Gecko Island, Sanji to the Baratie, and Zoro to Shells town.

 **So yeah, I know I didn't go into detail about Luffy's childhood, Sabo, Ace, or his training, but I had no clue how to write it. It wasn't going to change much anyway. I was thinking of giving Luffy a second devil fruit, but I have this idea that if you had two conflicting devil fruit abilities (such as the Gum Gum fruit and the Chop Chop Fruit) neither would work. So I was thinking of giving Luffy a Zoan, or possibly a Mythical Zoan, tell me what you think of this idea.**


	3. Chapter 3 Coby and Shells Town

**Hey guys, sorry this took a while, my job was really busy recently. I appreciate all the support for this story, though I am surprised by the lack of constructive criticism. I would like to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed and/or given me suggestions. I would also like to thank Awareness Bringer for being my beta reader.**

 **As always I will never own One Piece**

"Goodbye!" A green haired woman yelled from the port. The people she was waving goodbye to were an odd to say the least.

"Bye!" The group yelled and waved in return, the loudest being a seventeen year old boy wearing a straw hat. They had just left the village using a decent sized fishing boat meant for a small crew of around ten people. The previous owner was a middle-aged fisherman who could no longer hire a crew to man the watercraft, and had happily traded his boat for the little dinghy they offered.

When the port was almost out of view, a massive creature appeared in front of the small fishing boat. Not looked too worried, and for good reason. "Hey Omo (Lord)!" The straw hatted teen said. "Come to see us off?" The Lord of the Coast, as the people of the village had called it, nodded. "Ok, be sure to protect the village ok?" The creature nodded again, before disappearing below the waves.

"I still can't believe you managed to tame that thing." Nami said; she had come to pick up the other four passengers of the boat. Carrot, Brook, and Wanda had all stayed in Fushia village with Luffy.

"I agree, even with Conquerors haki it is an incredible feat to tame a sea king." Brook added, Carrot and Wanda agreed as well.

Over the previous two years, the crew had set out to finish honing the skills they once had and the new ones they had gained. After the meeting in Makino's bar, Nami had once again set out to collect treasure, using her climatat to takeout any pirates that got in her way. Luffy, on the other hand, had shown the other three the six powers. All three had grasped the basics of shave and moonwalk, but Carrot had taken a liking to the tempest kick, and Wanda was a natural at the iron body technique.

It was another hour at sea before anyone said anything; the only noise during the time was Brook's violin. "So where are we heading again?" Carrot asked.

"If I remember correctly, we are heading for a passenger ship not too far from here." Nami said.

"And why, pray tell, are we heading to a passenger ship?" Wanda asked. "I mean, I know we are pirates, but I was told we weren't going to attack innocents."

Luffy laughed. "Last time I was pulled into a whirlpool and ended up on it." He said, not really providing an answer to the question.

Nami decided to explain. "The ship is going to be attacked by the Alvida Pirates, and it was where Luffy met Coby, one of our few marine friends, for the first time."

"Oh yeah, Coby was captured by a whale of some sort." Luffy added, causing the three females to sweat drop, while one perverted skeleton was thinking about the Alvida he had met.

Nami checked their surroundings. "What do you know, the ship we're looking for is in view." She said, pointing out the ship just on the horizon. A moment later, another, pinker ship came into view. "And there is Alvida's crew. At this rate, the ship will sink before we get there. Avoiding that whirlpool must have put us behind schedule." She then turned towards her crew mates. "Luffy, Carrot, Brook, can you three get to those ships? I want Alvida's treasure, and Wanda, I need you to help me steer the ship." The four all nodded, before the three jumped, using moonwalk and shave to reach the ship quickly.

On the pirate ship we see one female pirate the size of an elephant ordering around a bunch of generic male cannon fodder, including a certain pink-haired wimp. "Coby! Who is the most beautiful woman in the whole entire world?" The elephant-sized pirate asked.

"That… w... wo... would be you, A-Alvida Ma'am." The wimp stuttered.

"Good answer." The next few minutes had the other generic pirates running about, preparing to steal the valuables from the wealthy passengers. "Men! Prepare to attack!" The female captain yelled.

Meanwhile, aboard the passenger ship, a few of the deck hands were about. They were all rather bored, that is, until their lookout yelled down from above. "We've got pirates of the starboard bow, and three unidentified objects flying towards us from the port side!" This caused the crew worry, and rush to warn their captain, only beginning to panic when three columns of water rose up, obviously from cannonballs hitting near the ship.

As Luffy, Brook, and Carrot were flying towards the two ships, there was a small conversation going on.

"Why are we getting involved again?" Carrot asked.

"Because if I don't Coby will be Alvida's slave forever!" Luffy responded.

"Then we better hurry, it looks like the pirates are getting ready to board." Brook observed.

"Guy's, I need you to keep the pirates busy for a bit, but don't get noticed. I need to head below deck." Luffy said. The two nodded. When they landed on the currently empty deck, the three instantly split up. Carrot rushed to the crow's nest as fast as she could without being seen, in order to get onto the pirate vessel once it was empty. Brook used his speed to rush through the halls of the ship, looking for any straggling civilians that would be easy prey for the enemy. As for Luffy, he headed for the kitchen, where he knew he would meet Coby.

The Alvida Pirate's ship finally pulled up next to their target. The female captain yelled. "Time to show them the might of Lady Iron Club Alvida!" A few ropes were thrown to connect the two boats, pirates running up the makeshift bridges in order to loot. One pirate, however, did not, and the captain noticed. "Coby! Why aren't you moving!?"

The wimp looked scared. "I'm not that great at this sort of thing." He meekly said.

"Maybe if you stopped talking back to me you would be at least a little less useless!" she yelled, raising her mace.

"Oh please! Not the club!" the terrified boy yelled.

"Then get your ass over there!" she yelled, kicking the boy into a wall on the ship they were boarding. While Coby was whining on the floor, he heard a shout. Looking up, he saw his captor coming down like a meteor. "Look out you morons!" It was amazing the ship didn't sink, but he wasn't going to say that in front of the female captain.

While most of the crew looted from the rich, Coby decided he would try to hide until things blew over, hopefully managing to get away from the person who has kept him as a slave for two years. "Hello?" he called, peeking into the kitchen. Upon hearing no response, Coby let out a sigh of relief. That was until three of the stupider members of the Alvida Pirates appeared.

"Hey Coby, you ain't trying to hide are ya?" One said.

"Of course not!" he panicked. "I was looking for some booze. Our stock has been short for a while."

The second pirate perked up. "Beer you say? Perhaps we'll help you look. We're pretty thirsty ourselves." He said.

"I don't think that's a good idea. We'll get in trouble with Lady Alvida. She'll kill us!" Coby said, trying to reason.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her, besides, it's not like any of us are going to tell, are we?" The third pirate threatened. They three began to laugh, but soon fell quiet and unconscious.

"I've been waiting." A voice said. Coby looked around, scared and panicked, before noticing someone sitting on a barrel.

"Who are you?" The pink-haired boy asked.

The teen, as Coby determined him to be, smiled. "My name is Monkey D Luffy. How's it going?"

Coby looked at him as if he was crazy. "Do you not know what's going on?!" He practically yelled. "Right now this ship is being attacked by the Alvida Pirates, the most ruthless on the sea!"

"What about you then? Are you a pirate or a passenger?" He asked, already knowing the answer "As for the attack, I have some of my crew ready to fight; I just need to finish a thing first."

"I'm a pirate, unwillingly that is. I was going fishing two years ago, but ended up on a pirate ship instead. I was forced to be Alvida's slave. The Name is Coby by the way." Coby explained.

"You're pretty wimpy to be a pirate." Luffy laughed, remembering how much stronger Coby was after Garp's training hell.

"I understand, my crewmates tell me that all the time." Coby looked down, and then he realized something. "You said you had a crew, but you don't look like marines. What are you doing here?"

"This is my first step to becoming the Pirate King." Luffy said; eating an apple he had gotten from the pantry.

"The Pirate King!? That's crazy, impossible, it can't be done!" Coby ranted, only falling silent by a fist to the head. "Ow! What was that for!?"

"Being the Pirate King is my dream, and I won't let anyone stop me." Luffy said.

"But you'll die!"

"If I die, I die. It just means I wasn't meant to be the King of the Pirates."

Coby adopted a look of contemplation at first, then one of hope. "Hey Luffy, do you think I could realize my dream?" He asked.

"Depends on what you want to do."

"I want to be a marine, to catch bad pirates and fight for justice, starting with Alvida." Coby said.

Soon after he did, a mace came through the ceiling. "Who are you going to catch Coby?" Alvida said with anger clear on her face.

"No… no one Lady Alvida." Coby said his voice full of fear.

"Who's this beached whale?" Luffy asked, not actually remembering that this was Alvida.

The group of pirates, plus Coby, was shocked. This man had just insulted there captain's looks, and by the look on their captain's face, he was going to die. "You don't look like Zoro." She said.

"Why would I look like Zoro, he's in Shells Town right now?" Luffy said.

Alvida turned towards Coby. "Coby, who is the most beautiful woman in all the world's oceans?" she asked.

"Boa Hancock is the most beautiful, though Carrot and Wanda look just as great. Then again, so does Nami, Robin, and Rebecca, then there was that Harpy lady…" Luffy rambled, listing off most of his female friends and even some of his enemies. Thanks to Makino, Luffy was no longer as dense as he was before. Of course this happened after Garp returned to Dawn Island after Ace set out. He had met both Carrot and Wanda, hoping Luffy would one day marry one or possibly both of them.

Coby began to fear for his life. "Shut up Luffy! Lady Alvida is the most…" Coby paused; thinking about what Luffy had said a couple of minutes ago. "ugly, awful, and horrible hag in the world!" he yelled.

"DIE!" the mace wielding pirate yelled.

Luffy grabbed Coby and jumped up onto the deck. He began dodging various pirates and swords. "Brook, Carrot, anytime you want to show up would be great!" Luffy yelled. Suddenly two shapes appeared, one from inside the ship, and one from Alvida's ship.

Everyone was baffled by the two's appearance, as one appeared to be a human rabbit, and the other was a freakishly tall skeleton sporting an afro. After a quick introduction to Coby, the two quickly got into a fighting stance. Alvida, who had managed to climb out of the hole, was focused on what the rabbit girl was holding, namely a bag of treasure. "They have my treasure! Freaky appearances or not, KILL THEM!" Alvida yelled. A swarm of pirates rushed the three.

"Luffy, why have us fight when you could take them out yourself?" Brook asked, using his sword to disarm pirate after pirate.

"Yeah, these guys aren't even a challenge." Carrot added, using Tempest kicks, shave, and moonwalk to avoid and take out enemies.

"I understand it's not difficult, but we won't get any tough fights for a while, so I figured I'd let you guys have some fun." Luffy said, using his rubber body to punch a few pirates from across the deck, effectively freaking many of those present out.

Pretty soon all the cannon fodder had been dealt with, the three Strawhats barely tired. "What are you three?" Coby asked.

They didn't get a chance to answer however, as Alvida had spoken up. "You three have partaken the Devil Fruits haven't you? I have only heard rumors about their existence up until now."

"Just me and Brook. Carrot here is a Mink." Luffy said. "I ate the Gum Gum fruit, turning me into a rubberman."

"And I have eaten the Revive Revive fruit, allowing me to have a second chance after I died." Brook said, scaring the pirates nearest him, as they realized he was an actual living skeleton.

Carrot looked off the side of the ship. "Hey Luffy, I'm going to take this treasure to Nami while you finish up here, Brook, why don't you bring Coby?"

"Of course." Brook responded, picking up the terrified boy before leaping off the side and onto the boat Nami had brought up to the side. Unfortunately the boy had fallen unconscious as soon as he realized that the skeleton holding him had jumped of the boat.

"Now, goodbye whale!" Luffy said cheerfully. "Gum Gum…" He brought both his hands back, stretching his arms far back. "Bazooka!" and with extreme force, the whale flew, eventually becoming a sparkle in the sky. Having just sent Alvida flying, Luffy joined his friends on the fishing boat, barely avoiding a cannonball shot by an approaching marine battleship.

On the boat, three people were horrified. "They risked shooting at a passenger ship, just because there are pirates onboard?!" Brook yelled. The two minks could only shake in anger, while the other two had experienced this before.

Nami turned towards the three. "We need to get away from here! Help get the ship sailing!" She yelled as more explosions created plumes of water around them.

Three hours later Coby had finally woken up. "Uhh, how hard did Alvida hit me this time?" he groggily asked, his memory of what happened on the passenger ship was blurry at best.

"Oh Coby! You're awake!" A voice enthusiastically said.

It took a couple of seconds for Coby to remember. "Luffy? Where am I? Where are we going?"

Another voice answered from behind, Coby turned to see an orange haired woman next to what appeared to be a human-like dog woman. "First off, you are on our ship. We rescued you from your old boss Alvida. Secondly, you only met three of us" She said, pointing to Luffy, Carrot, and Brook; Coby almost passed out again from seeing a living skeleton, but they saved him and he did want more answers. "I'm Nami, and this is Wanda, nice to meet you." She said pointing to the dog mink. "And lastly, we are currently heading towards Shells town."

Coby took all this in, but still had more questions. "So, why did you save me? Luffy told me you guys are pirates, but that makes no sense! Pirates are supposed to be bad!" The pink haired boy yelled.

The five pirates quieted down. A serious mood quickly took over the boat. Brook answered the young boy's question. "There are bad pirates, but there are also good ones. The same can be said for marines. You didn't see, but after we defeated the pirates, three marine battleships arrived."

Coby was confused. "That's good isn't it?"

Wanda answered this time. "It would have been good, had they not fired upon the passenger ship. They didn't aim for the pirate ship; they didn't check to see what the situation was, they just fired upon anything they could see."

"They didn't care about the wellbeing of the passengers, the ones we defended." Carrot added.

"And as pirates, even if they didn't know it, we would have been arrested because we were not supposed to be on the ship." Brook finished.

"That's awful!" Coby exclaimed.

Luffy looked at him. "That's just how life is, and while the intention to get rid of the pirates was good, they went about it the wrong way." The rubberman said before he lightened up a bit. "And about saving you, well… how else would you become a marine?" he asked. This shocked Coby, as this was a pirate offering to help him become a marine.

After a few minutes of silence, Coby spoke up again. "So why are we heading to Shells town? I know it's the nearest marine base, but I hear that the captain of that base is rather… scary."

The bunny girl looked at the terrified boy. "We need to go pick up our crewmate! Assuming he hasn't gotten lost."

Nami looked at her. "He shouldn't have gotten lost, I took him to Shells town myself, and he isn't traveling alone, so I wouldn't worry too much about Zoro."

That name caused Coby to panic. "You guys are going to recruit Zoro!? As in Roronoa Zoro!? The PIRATE HUNTER!?"

"Yeah." Luffy smirked.

"That's a bad idea! He'll kill you! Don't you know he's been called a demon?" Coby ranted.

"Nah, he's already a part of this crew, we just need to go get him." Nami reassured the boy.

"But last I heard he was being held at the marine base. The marines must have arrested him because he's a bad guy, why would you allow him to join your crew?"

The group quieted down. Nami looked at the pink haired boy. "Listen Coby, despite what the papers and rumors may say, Zoro is a good friend and very reliable. He may have annoyed some egotistical jerk in some way, but his reputation as a pirate hunter automatically puts him on the same side as the marines. Now we have about two days before we reach Shells town. Then you can judge Zoro yourself, once you meet him of course." Coby could only nod, thinking about whether or not he can trust his new friend's decisions, but he wasn't going to get in their way.

Two days later, the group of six reach Shells town. Heading for the base, the group got curious looks from the townspeople, especially Brook, Carrot, and Wanda.

"I guess they have never seen a Mink before." Wanda stated.

"Yoho! Nor a talking skeleton." Brook laughed.

One civilian came up to the group, obviously nervous due to the strange, fierce looking appearances of Brook, Carrot, and Wanda. "Excuse me! May I ask where you are going?"

Not thinking much about it, Luffy responded. "We're heading to the marine base, our friend Zoro is there." At the mention of Zoro, several of the civilians watching jumped back in fright.

The civilian was terrified. "I wouldn't do that! If your friend is at the base, there isn't any hope for you to save him."

Coby was trembling. "Is it because of Captain Axe-hand Morgan?" he asked.

The civilians jumped back in fear once again, some even running into their homes and businesses. Luffy laughed "These guys are funny, Morgan isn't even that strong!" He exclaimed, causing the rest of the townspeople to hide. "Come on guys, let's go see Zoro."

The group continued towards the marine base, stopping in front of the large gate. They obviously couldn't go through the front entrance, but Luffy and Carrot had already taken a seat on front of the wall. "There he is!" The rabbit Mink proclaimed. The rest climbed/jumped up on the wall, getting a view of the prison yard.

Coby, not having quite reached the top started to argue. "There is absolutely no way they just left Zoro out in the open." But upon pulling himself up he froze. "That bandana, the aura of death; that has to be Zoro!"

"Hey guys, what took you so long?" Zoro asked, looking at the group.

Luffy smiled. Turning to his side he spoke to his friends. "Nami, can you and Brook raid the base, look for Zoro's swords and anything else you think we'll need." As the two were about to take off towards the base, a ladder showed up.

Climbing over the wall was a little girl. Coby saw her and began to panic. "Guys, you need to stop her, she'll get hurt!"

The girl approached Zoro. What he said shocked the wannabe marine. "Rika, I told you to stay with your mother and Kuina, do they know you're here?" he asked softly.

The little girl shook her head. "I'm sorry big brother, I snuck away. I brought you some rice balls, I made them myself!" Coby was completely shocked. This was the 'demon' he had heard about

"Oh look what we have here." A snotty voice said. Everyone turned to see a blond-haired man approach with two marines in pursuit. "A demon pirate hunter has a soft spot for a little girl? Must be crippling to your reputation." He then noticed the rice balls Rika was holding. "Oh! Rice balls! Give them here brat!"

As he took the rice balls Rika cried out. "What? No, I made those for Zoro!"

The bratty man took a bite, before spitting it out in disgust, and throwing the rest on the ground. "Uh! It's sweet! You're supposed to use salt, not sugar!"

"I thought they would be better sweet."

"Throw her over the wall." The man ordered.

The marines behind him looked nervous. "Helmeppo, are you sure? She's just a little girl!" one said.

Helmeppo look angry. "Do it, or I'll tell my daddy on you!" he shrieked.

The marine resigned himself and walked up to the little girl. He bent down and whispered in her ear. "Tuck yourself into a ball, you'll be alright." He then picked her up and through her over the wall. Luffy looked at Carrot and jerked his head towards the girl. Carrot understood and jumped up to catch her. The little girl felt herself be caught, and opened her eyes, shocked that a rabbit girl had caught her.

The two marines and Helmeppo walked back into the base, allowing Luffy, Carrot, and Wanda to talk to Zoro, while Brook and Nami raided the base and Coby was left walking Rika to her home. "So Zoro, how have things been?" Luffy asked.

Zoro smiled. "I've been better, most of the bounties Kuina and I have gone after barely put up a fight. I barely even feel weak after being tied up for these past three weeks. I am hungry though, and Rika will be disappointed if I didn't eat the food she made." With that, Luffy picked up the dirt-filled rice ball and gave it to the swordsman.

The two Minks were both disgusted that he would eat such a thing, and awed at the amount of care the man had for a little girls' feelings. "Well, you won't be tied up for much longer, Brook and Nami are in the base getting your swords, and we also need to defeat this captain Morgan; but for now let's go meet your friend." Wanda said, using her sword to cut the ropes.

With that, the four left the compound, Luffy leading the way as Zoro still lacked a sense of direction, and the two female Minks had never been there before. Upon entering the restaurant Rika's mother owned, Rika came up to Zoro. "Big brother? Why are you here? Did Helmeppo let you go?" she asked.

Zoro knelt down, getting down to Rika's eye level. "Not exactly Rika. Also, thanks for the rice balls, they were delicious."

"You really ate them?"

"Yeah, in all my travels I learned not to waste food. It may very well be a death sentence." He answered. In truth it was one of the only rules of Sanji's he actually agreed with, not that he'd tell the shitty cook that.

A moment later Rika's mother and a blue haired woman came from the back. Both women were surprised to see Zoro. "Zoro, what are you doing here? You still have another week to go. Don't tell me you're abandoning your promise." The blue-haired girl said.

"I know Kuina, and I'm not. That bastard wasn't going to keep his word; I knew that from day one. But I couldn't risk fighting the marines, or Morgan would have come after Rika, Ririka, and you." Zoro responded. "Besides, my friends arrived today, and Morgan will finally be taken down."

At this Kuina looked at the three behind him, after quick introductions they sat down to eat. Thirty minutes had passed when Brook and Nami entered the café. "Ah Nami! Brook! Come join us!" Luffy waved to the two.

"Good to see you too, but the marines have noticed Zoro's not at the base. We need to remove Morgan from power now." Nami said.

"While we were in the base, we managed to find Zoro's swords, as well as some seastone equipment, cuffs, chains, and even a crate of unrefined seastone. We loaded as much as we could onto the boat, mostly because of how many Devil Fruit users we'll run into and how rare it is to find items like this." Brook added, handing Zoro his swords.

It was at this moment Helmeppo walked in. Paying no attention to the other patrons he sat at the bar, and put his feet up. "Barmaid, bring me some food and wine, on the house of course."

"Right away sir." Ririka said, bowing her head.

The brat gained a smug look on his face. "Due to my recent boredom, I've decided to execute Zoro tomorrow!" he said, laughing manically.

"Oh really?" Zoro asked.

"Of cour…" Helmeppo started, before he realized who exactly he was talking too. "AHHHH! You're supposed to be tied up!"

"I was, but my friends recently arrived in town and I decided to show them around. Besides, it's not like my absence wasn't noticed, or are you to self-centered to actually pay attention to the marines you threaten. Maybe your father didn't care enough about me leaving and is instead feeding his ego. Point is; you made a mistake backing out of our deal." Zoro said, hitting the bratty teen across the room with his sheathed swords.

Getting up, Helmeppo looked afraid. "You'll pay for this! I'll tell my daddy on you!" With his last exclamation, he ran out of the restaurant.

Kuina looked at the fleeing teen in disgust. "I guess you were right Zoro, he really wasn't going to keep his word. I guess now's the time we go fight Morgan?" she asked.

"Don't forget us." Wanda said. "This man sounds like a tyrant, and we cannot sit by and let you take him down on your own, even if you two are more than strong enough." Kuina nodded in acknowledgement.

Luffy looked ready for a fight. "Alright! Let's go kick this guy's ass! Carrot, Brook, you guys stay here, you got to fight the last group."

"YOU FOUGHT THEM TOO!" The two yelled.

"Oh… yeah!" Luffy said laughing. "Coby, come on, I want you to see this." With that, Luffy, Zoro, Coby, Wanda, and Kuina headed for the base. Once they reached the gate, Luffy used his monstrous strength to bust it open, drawing the attention of the few marines around. "Hey Wanda?"

The Mink looked at her captain. "Yes Luffy?"

"How good have your flying slashes gotten?" he asked.

"Do you have a target?" she asked. Luffy pointed to the roof, where they saw a large, admittedly ugly statue, being set up. Acknowledging her target, Wanda pulled out her cutlass and sent a blade of wind hurling towards the hideous abomination. Seconds later, the statue fell apart, cleanly cut in two.

"Nice!" Luffy complimented, making Wanda blush.

Earlier, Helmeppo had reached the base and was making his way to the roof, where his father was busy ordering around a bunch of marines who were raising a statue of their feared captain. "Careful with that statue!" he shouted before turning to the lieutenant. "Lieutenant, why have the tributes been declining recently?"

The terrified lieutenant answered immediately. "Well, the townspeople don't have as much money as they use too, as most of it is given to you sir."

Morgan raised his axe-hand. "Wrong! It's because they don't respect me. As the highest ranking officer in this base, I demand respect." He brought his axe down, inches away from the lieutenant. "Do I make myself clear?"

It was at this moment Helmeppo had reached the roof. "Daddy, there's some people I want you to kill!" Helmeppo shrieked.

"And why should I care?" the burly man asked.

"Because one of them hit me. Even you never hit me." Helmeppo exclaimed proudly.

"Do you know why I never hit you?" Morgan said, raising his fist.

"It's because I am your beloved son." Helmeppo answered.

"Wrong! I never hit you…" The marine captain brought his fist down, punching his son in the face. "because you aren't worth hitting!" Helmeppo was shocked, but his father continued. "I didn't care if you were using my name in order to get what you want, but only as long as you remembered that **I** was the great one! Not you! By the way, I heard a brat snuck into the yard earlier."

Helmeppo stood up shakenly. "Yes, but don't worry, I had her taken care of."

"So you had her killed right?"

"Of course not, she's just a little girl!"

Morgan was outraged. "Anyone who defies me should perish!" He turned to a marine. "You, go into the town, find that little brat, and execute her!"

The marine was frozen. "I can't!"

Morgan raised his axe, pausing briefly before bringing it down on the marine, effectively killing him. It was silent for a moment before a slash of wind came and cut the statue. Outraged, Morgan, and to a lesser extent Helmeppo, looked at the execution yard. There they saw a group of people standing in the courtyard. "That's them!" Helmeppo screamed.

"Traitors everywhere." Morgan grumbled. "Bring me their heads!"

Luffy and the others waited as several minutes pass, and a bulk of marines had finally entered the execution yard, led by Morgan. Luffy looked at the large man. "Hey! Axe-man! We're here to kick your ass!

Morgan laughed. "You expect to defeat me. In case you haven't noticed, you're outnumbered. Plus, you have no rank. Rank is everything, as it determines power, and there is no way I will lose to some civilians." He mocked. "Attack men!" he ordered.

Dozens of marines charged with swords, and an equal amount brandished rifles, intending to shoot the intruders. Luffy charges the riflemen, as while bullets didn't affect him, they could affect his friends. Kuina and Wanda each handled a group of swordsmen, blocking attacks, disarming men, or knocking them out. Zoro was holding off no less than fifty marines, blocking all their blades with his three. Soon all the marines were defeated, either laying helpless on the ground, or watching Luffy's group in fear.

Morgan watched in rage as his subordinates lose to what he considered a weak bunch of enemies. "Any marine who no longer wants to fight, kill yourselves now."

Luffy looked at Morgan angrily. Turning to the marines he yelled. "Don't listen to him, he won't be in power much longer." He said, turning once again to look at Morgan. He cracked his knuckles, his eyes promising a beat down.

Coby could only look on in awe; that is until he felt the barrel of a gun pressed to his head. "Stop it right there!" Helmeppo yelled. He was shaking at the knees, obviously nervous about possibly taking a life.

The rather one-sided battle came to a halt. Most of the marines were on the ground, with several broken weapons strewn about. Luffy looked at Helmeppo and smiled. "Is that supposed to make us cower?" he asked, cocking his arm back.

"I said stop! Or… or I'll shoot." The brat said, his knees shaking.

Coby was visibly afraid, reasonably, as he didn't want to die. He had his own dream he wanted, no needed, to accomplish. He remembered something Luffy said when they first met, and how he would accept death as long as he pursued his goals. "Luffy! Guys! Don't worry about me! I'm not worth your lives!" he yelled, having resolved himself.

Luffy's grin widened. "Well put. Gum Gum…"

"Die!" A man shouted. All around, eyes were drawn to Axe-hand Morgan, who had raised his axe above Luffy's head.

While Luffy could have used Haki to stop the blade, he and his crew knew it would be risky to reveal it to the marines so soon. Two gusts of wind flew by him. "Pistol!" Helmeppo flew back, the gun he was holding smashing against the wall.

Behind him, Kuina had redirected the attack towards Zoro, who had used his three Blades to amputate the axe from Morgan's arm, cut the blade in half, and slash Morgan across the chest, knocking him both back and out. Turning away from the unconscious marine captain the two asked. "Are you ok, Captain?"

"Thanks guys." He said before turning to Wanda, who had been watching the remaining marines for any sign of a sneak attack. "Hey Wanda, I don't think those guys are gonna try anything."

The Mink seemed to relax a bit, though still eyed the marines, who were staring at their corrupt captain. "We're free! Our nightmare is over!" they yelled, jumping up and cheering.

One hour later, Coby and the crew of now seven members were sitting in Ririka's restaurant, along with many of the townsfolk. News of Morgan's defeat had spread quickly. Luffy and Zoro were enjoying food and booze respectively, the female members of the crew were talking to each other, mostly acquainting themselves with Kuina, Brook was playing one of his songs from his time as Soul King, and Coby was just having a good time.

The fun was cut short however when the marines, let by the newly appointed Commander Ripper, entered the restaurant. "Excuse me." he said, clearing his voice. The room quieted down waiting for him to speak. "I must thank you for ridding us of Ex-captain Morgan."

"No problem." Luffy laughed, but the Commander Ripper continued.

"However, as you are pirates, as Marines we cannot allow you to stay on this island. Although we will refrain from reporting your involvement here"

This statement enraged the civilians. "You can't do that! They're your saviors too!" These comments came from the crowd, along with several other remarks.

The crew did not look worried. "Okay. We needed to get going anyway; I still have some crewmates to pick up."

As Luffy and his crew started to leave, Ripper stopped them. "Wait. Isn't he with you?" he asked pointing at Coby.

"Oh him, he's not with us, I actually rescued him from being a slave on some fat lady's ship. What was her name again? Alv…" but he never finished, as Coby punched him across the face.

"Shut up!" the pink haired teen yelled.

A fight between the two broke out, although Luffy was holding back about ninety percent of his power. Ripper stepped in between the two. "Alright that's enough! It's obvious you two aren't friends. Now I must kindly ask you to leave!"

Luffy grinned. "Let me just make a call first."

With that he pulled out a transponder snail. Dialing the number he waited for a minute before the line picked up. "Hello? Garp speaking, who's this?" the voice asked. At this point Kuina, Coby, and everyone else who did not know he was Garp's grandson were shocked.

"Hey Gramps!" Luffy cheered, causing jaws to literally drop to the floor.

"Luffy? Why are you calling? How are those girlfriends of yours?"

"Gramps!" Luffy whined. Carrot and Wanda blushed, while Nami was conflicted, as she was both amused and jealous.

"Don't be embarrassed, you should be proud to have two beautiful ladies."

"Gramps! I'm not calling to talk about this. I'm calling because recently I came across Axe-hand Morgan, who was exploiting and threatening the town he was in charge of protecting. On my way I met a promising kid with lots of potential. I was thinking since I can't become a marine, I could send him in my place." Luffy explained.

Garp sighed. "Very well Luffy, I will take him under my wing. I'll pick him up in a couple of months." With that, the vice admiral hung up.

"Alright guys, let's go." Luffy said, before he and his crew left.

Coby was ecstatic; he was going to get trained by Garp! He was jumping with glee when Commander Ripper came over. "It appears that Garp the Fist has agreed to train you. Now, it's normally impossible for non-marines to learn from marines, the only exceptions are family. If you truly want to be trained by Garp, we better make you a marine first."

Coby teared up with happiness. "I would like nothing more sir."

One marine had an objection. "Sir, we don't know his past. He could be a spy or a…" he started.

Coby cut him off. "It's my dream to be a marine! I'll do anything to achieve it!"

Ripper grinned. "Very well. Welcome aboard. You'll start off as chore boy."

"Yes sir!"

Setting out from shore, the seven Strawhats were lazing around. That is, until they heard someone call. "Luffy! Thank you!"

They turned around seeing Coby and the other marines saluting them. "Marines saluting a pirate, I bet that's a first." Wanda said.

Luffy and Zoro looked at each other, grinning. "Seen it before." The two said before they burst out laughing.

Back on shore Commander Ripper addressed his fellow marines. "Men, what we just did is in direct violation of marine protocol. As punishment, we will all go the next three days without food."

"Yes sir!" they all responded.

 **(Gecko Island)**

Usopp was walking through the forest. He was heading towards a secret garden he had planted. It was a place where he grew his arsenal of pop greens and some fruits in case he needed to hide there for a day or two. Despite being from the future, he still loved his small town and wanted to add some excitement. That was why he was heading toward his garden in the first place, he believed Kuro was getting suspicious, and that wouldn't be good at all. Usopp was sure he could defeat him if he needed to, but he would lose all trust Kaya had in him, as she still believed in Klahadore.

"Arriving at his garden, Usopp went to begin picking fruit, noticing something odd in his pear tree. "What's this?" he asked, having picked the strange object. It was a pear shaped fruit with pink and green swirls. Usopp paled when he realized what he was holding. "A Devil Fruit!? I found a Devil Fruit!? What do I do? I need to hide it? Should I eat it? No that's stupid, you don't know what it does, and do I really want to lose my ability to swim?" All these thoughts caused Usopp to freak out, but he ultimately decided he would sneak over to see Kaya and have her hide the fruit for him, as he didn't have any safe places for him to stash it.

 **(Grandline)**

Marco was headed towards Whitebeard's quarters; he had been called with the other division commanders for a meeting. He was sure this was about the recent attack on Thatch, which he fortunately prevented from turning deadly, and what to do about Blackbeard. Approaching the door, phoenix zoan user heard yelling from inside. "Are you crazy!? He heard Thatch yell.

Entering the room, Marco saw all the division commanders as well as Pops. "Yoi, what'd I miss?" He asked Izo, who along with Foosa, Pops, and Jozu, were the only ones not trying to calm down Ace, who was literally flaming.

The sixteenth division commander responded quietly. "Not much. Ace wants to go after Teach, and the others are trying to talk him out of it."

Foosa decided to elaborate a little. "Thatch says he never got a good chance to identify the Devil Fruit, so we don't know what Teach is capable of now."

Marco scoffed. "Try destroying the world. Teach has the power of the Dark Dark fruit, a logia with terrifying abilities." It was then he realized his mistake, as Pops had heard him.

"And how do you know that is the fruit Teach ate, and would you care to explain more about its abilities." Whitebeard asked, at this the others had all turned to look at the pineapple-haired man.

"I saw him use his power while I fought him." Marco said, not lying exactly, as he did see Teach use his fruit abilities, just in the future.

While most seemed to accept this, Thatch was skeptical. "I was conscious after he attacked me; Teach was long gone by the time you showed up. Plus there was no evidence of a battle on the ship."

Whitebeard took interest in this detail, thinking about how Marco has acted in recent years. He always felt his son was hiding something, and if it was something that would endanger his family, he needed to know. Unleashing his conquerors haki, Whitebeard addressed the first division commander. "Marco, I've felt as if you've been hiding something from us, the look in your eye was one I've never seen before, one of great loss."

"Not to mention he's been subtly watching Teach for years. I could have sworn I saw hatred more than once." Izo added; he wasn't a sharpshooter for no reason.

Marco was being pushed back into a corner, all eyes on him. "Well… I… it's complicated. I'm not even sure if you guys would believe me yoi."

Ace looked at him, a stubborn look stuck on his face; he still wanted to go after Teach. "Try us. A couple of days ago we believed Teach was one of us, but now we know that you and him have both been keeping secrets!" he accused.

"Enough!" Whitebeard yelled, he nearly lost one son; he didn't need to have it actually happen. "Tell us my son, please. What is bothering you?"

"I guess it started after Thatch died by Blackbeard's hands…." The shocked silence was all he needed to continue. He told them about everything, the War of the Best, the deaths of Ace and Pops, which again shocked everyone in the room, Teach gaining Pops Devil Fruit, the crew splitting and being hunted, joining the Strawhat Pirates, the final battle, and finally traveling back in time due to the awakening of the Gum Gum fruit. He also explained in great detail of what Teach was capable of with the fruit.

"That is… quite a story my son." Whitebeard said, tears forming under his eye. Marco didn't blame him, it wasn't every day you hear about a war you died and lost children in.

"It's true yoi." He said. A million questions started to come from his fellow division commanders, except two, and he tried to answer to the best of his ability.

Ace, however, was devastated. He died in his brother's arm, breaking his promise, and not only that, but his brother was apparently strong enough to face admirals. He could not believe it. "You have to be lying." He whispered. "If you weren't, why let Teach get this fruit, why even let him live!"

Marco was angry. "How could I kill him? He was a part of the crew and I couldn't prove anything! Despite what a bastard he is, I still live by the rules of this ship. As for letting him get the fruit, he was able to attack when I was busy, and had escaped by the time I reached Thatch. I was ordered to keep an eye on him anyway, as leaving him alone could have been even worse than keeping him where I can easily monitor him."

Foosa seemed to understand. "Keep friends close and enemies closer ay?" Marco nodded.

Jozu then spoke up for the first time since the meeting started. "If Teach is really so dangerous now, then perhaps its best if you go with Ace." Marco nodded.

Whitebeard spoke up once more. "It's decided then. Ace, Marco will join you on your search for Teach. And Marco, you mentioned joining Ace's brother's crew?" Marco nodded. "I would like to meet him. He said smiling, a thunderous laugh soon followed. "We'll stay in Paradise for a while, call me if you run into the brat."

"Sure thing Pops yoi." He smiled.

 **So Whitebeard knows, as does the division commanders, I added this because it will affect the story in the future.**

 **As for Usopp's Devil Fruit, I'm going to leave that as a surprise, but it will come into play next chapter.**

 **Finally, the poll for pairing will close next chapter, and the current leader is Luffy/harem.**

 **See you next time I actually get a chance to update.**


	4. Chapter 4 A Clown and A Cat

**Hey guys, sorry for such a long wait, but my writers block is finally gone, and I've actually been catching up with the anime. For those of you who voted, thank you so much! As for the results, the winner was Luffy/Harem. Oh, and if any of you have any suggestions for the crew, please leave a review. I've looked through most of the characters, but I'm sure there are some I've missed. The only thing I ask is don't recommend background characters or unnamed characters (I just ask you don't recommend them, I have a couple ideas for much later.)  
**

 **I still don't own One Piece**

 **(Syrup Village)**

Usopp arrived at the manor of his small village, standing on the branch just outside Kaya's window. He would have used the door, but he couldn't risk Kuro finding out. Hesitantly, he knocked.

Kaya instantly opened the window when she saw who it was. "Oh Usopp! I wasn't expecting you to visit today! Why didn't you use the door, you know you're always welcome here?" She asked. Usopp was a good friend of hers, and when her parents were alive, they too enjoyed the liars company, especially the stories he had to tell.

"I'm afraid I need your help." He stated.

Kaya was confused. "You know I'm sick, what can I help you with?"

"I need you to hide this, tell no one of it, and most importantly do NOT eat it." The teen said, pulling out the fruit and confusing the girl.

"It's a… fruit?" she said.

"It isn't just any fruit, but never mind that, will you hide it, please." Usopp said, his voice lowering, not in a threatening way but in a more of an 'I can't explain everything right now' kind of way.

Kaya understood and nodded, wondering why her friend was acting this way. She quickly got up and grabbed a small chest from her closet, putting the odd fruit inside, and locking the box, putting the key in her nightstand.

Usopp smiled kindly, uttering a thank you to the girl before running off. Kaya just watched him go, questions running through her mind.

 **(With Luffy and the others)**

It had been a few days since the Strawhat crew left Shells Town. Nami had already set a course for Orange Town and had explained to the crew who their target was. This confused Kuina, Carrot, and Brook, the former not sure why they were specifically targeting this pirate, and the latter two of the three only knew the man as a Warlord and a sort-of ally.

"Hey Nami, when are we going to reach the next island?" Luffy asked. He was rather impatient to face Buggy, as he was the only real challenge in the East Blue besides Arlong. After learning he was on the pirate kings crew, Luffy figured that the man must know about Haki.

"We'll be there in just a few hours." The navigator responded.

Kuina was still quite new to being a pirate, but the way her new friends were acting made them seem like they were bounty hunters instead. "Tell me again why we're going after Buggy the Clown? Has he done something to the crew, possibly captured a crewmate of ours?" she questioned.

Zoro yawned. "No nothing like that. He has a decent amount of treasure and some powerful bombs, but he didn't really do anything to us." He answered his rival.

"That's another thing." Kuina said. She then pointed to the lounging swordsman. "When we were bounty hunting, you always said that going after Buggy's bounty was something we could never actually succeed in."

It was Brook who answered this time. "That's because he has a Devil Fruit that makes bladed and spiked weapons completely useless against him. Even if we were to use all blunt attacks, which would normally harm him, he can simply separate his body parts causing them to miss. That's the power of the Chop Chop fruit." He said hauntingly.

Kuina seemed to understand what that would have meant had she faced him before meeting this crew. "So we are taking him down as a show of strength?"

"Actually we're taking him down because of three reasons, his treasure, the town he's taken over, and it will be decent training for you Kuina." Nami explained, use to the fact that between Zoro, Luffy, and herself she was the best at getting the point across.

"Huh? How can it be training for me if blades won't work on him?" the blue haired swordswoman asked.

"Luffy will take care of Buggy, but his crew will be for the rest of you. My job is to secure the treasure." Nami explained. Everyone sweat-dropped as her eyes turned into beri signs.

Carrot checked the ocean in front of them and saw three men floating in the water. "We have three stranded guys up ahead." She said.

Luffy looked ahead and shouted. "Hey! Climb aboard!"

The three did as they were told and climbed onto the small watercraft, effectively bringing the small boat up to its max capacity, not counting the room they had for treasure. "Thanks for helping us! Our boat got caught in a freak storm." The first one said.

"But now this ship is property of the Buggy pirates!" The second one said.

"Now hand over all of your valuables." The last one said, with all three idiots now brandishing their swords.

The seven Strawhats just looked at each other silently for a minute, before they all broke out laughing. "These guys are funny, maybe we should get a clown for the crew." Luffy said, still laughing.

"WE ALREADY HAVE TOO MANY!" Nami said. She had stopped laughing and hit Luffy hard on the head.

"OW! Sorry!" Luffy apologized, silently wondering if Nami lied about having Armament Haki.

Meanwhile, the three stooges were confused. "Are they really not afraid?" the first asked.

"On the contrary, it is you three who should be afraid." The three turned around to see who had spoken to them, only to see a talking skeleton, which freaked them out.

One insanely fast beat down, courtesy of Brook, later and we see the three stooges cowering in front of the entire crew, speedily rowing the ship towards Orange Town. Nami was cheerful at this. "At this rate we'll see land much sooner!" and true to her word forty-five minutes later they saw the town.

Pulling into port, the three idiots fled from Brook while Nami secured their supplies in the boats cabin. "Alright, since Buggy is our enemy we need to be aware of each other's locations. If his bombs explode or get redirected, it could take one or more of us out." Nami said, locking the cabin door.

"Um… Nami?" Carrot said.

"Yes?" she responded turning around. Once she looked at the rabbit mink, she saw that Luffy, Brook, and Zoro had all run off. "WAH?! WHERE'D THEY GO?!" she yelled, shark teeth replacing her normal ones.

"Luffy said something about a dog, Brook ran after him, and Zoro I'm not sure, he was supposed to stay right here." Kuina explained.

Nami sighed. "Why are all the men on this crew complete idiots?" She wined. "Never mind. Carrot, Wanda, you guys go look for Luffy and Brook. Kuina, you and I will are going to go survey Buggy's temporary base." Getting nods from her three female crewmates, they broke up into their respective pairs.

Running through Orange Town was Luffy and Brook. "Come on Brook, we have to stop Lion-guy from destroying ChouChou's treasure.

"You never explained to me who ChouChou was, you just mentioned a dog, but I understand; you never mess with a man's treasure!" Brook yelled in agreement.

They ran through the streets for a few more minutes. It was when they entered what appeared to be the town center that the two noticed a little white dog. "ChouChou!" Luffy yelled.

The little dog growled at the two, but leaped toward Brook and latched onto his leg. "Ahhh! No! No! Bad Dog! That's not something for you to chew on!" the musician screamed, but the dog refused to let go.

"Hey!" the two heard, though only Luffy actually turned to see who called, as Brook was still trying to pry the dog off of his leg. The speaker was an elderly man in leather armor. "You two better not be messing with ChouChou!"

As Luffy was about to answer he heard two feminine voices call him. "There you are!" he didn't even get a chance to look before he was tackled to the ground by two attractive minks.

Across town, at the Drinker's Pub, was Zoro. "Now where did everyone disappear too?" he asked. Looking around he saw a few pirate grunts on the roof. "Hey!" he called.

Looking down, the several pirates paled when they realized who exactly had called them. "Captain! It's Pirate Hunter Zoro!" they screamed.

On what appeared to be a throne was a pirate with blue hair, a big red nose, and face paint looked over with interest. "Let him up! I want to know what the famous bounty hunter Roronoa Zoro wants with me."

Jumping up on the roof Zoro surveyed his surroundings, noticing Nami and Kuina climbing onto a roof across the way. "Got any booze I can have?" he asked.

Both females watching this exchange had mixed feelings. Nami was glad she found Zoro, but angry that he had run off immediately, and Kuina was worried Zoro would be defeated, but also intrigued by where this was going. "That idiot! He's going to piss Buggy off!" Nami whisper yelled.

"We should probably get Zoro and then go find the others." Kuina suggested.

"How, he's surrounded! I mean he can handle himself, but he is not much better than Buggy about collateral damage." Nami countered.

Back on the bars roof, Buggy addressed Zoro. "So, have you come for my head? Actually, where is your partner Kuina?" Buggy asked.

"We've given up the bounty hunter game; I'm just looking for my crewmates right now." Zoro answered, prepared to jump off the roof and go look for his captain.

Buggy got up and laughed. "That's too bad, but my reputation will go up by quite an impressive amount should I kill you."

Zoro looked over to where Nami and Kuina were, and signaled them to prepare to run. Pulling out his three swords, Zoro turned to Buggy. "I can't just let you kill me; I'd rather fall in battle. Oni…" he started, preparing his blades for an attack.

"How honorable, I'll be sure to give you a flashy death." Buggy said, preparing to take Zoro's attack.

"Giri!" Zoro yelled, using his three blades to slash Buggy, though the attack didn't do anything as Zoro hadn't used his Haki.

Buggy's torso started to levitate. His chilling laugh filled the air. A fist came flying at Zoro, knives between each finger. Zoro managed to dodge at the last second thanks to his observation Haki. Buggy looked irritated. "It's impressive that you managed to dodge that attack. Most swordsmen fall for that trick."

"I'm not like any other person you've fought. I knew about your Devil Fruit and told Kuina that there was no possible way for normal swordsmen to harm you." He sheathed two of his swords, leaving only Wado Ichimonji in his right hand. "But as I've said before, I'm no normal swordsman. Thirty-six caliber phoenix!" he yelled, sending his weakest flying slash at Buggy.

"You fool! That won't work!" he mocked, though his observation Haki was telling him to move. Trusting his senses, Buggy moved as far to the side as he could, but was still cut by the flying slash. What happened next caused Kuina's, Buggy's, and his crew's jaws to drop. From the slight cut Buggy had received, blood had begun to seep out of the wound. "What? How? There shouldn't be any Haki users in the East Blue!" He then turned towards his stunned crew. "Don't just stand there! Someone patch me up!" Turning back to where Zoro was, he noticed that while everyone on his crew was dazed, Zoro had managed to escape. Now Buggy was mad, how dare this swordsman fool him, how dare he cut HIM! He was going to get revenge. "Mohji, take Ritchie into town and find Roronoa Zoro. Kill anyone else!" He ordered. He then turned to the rest of his crew. "Prepare the Buggy Balls; I need to blow off some steam."

"Yes captain Buggy." The hairy man responded.

Back with Luffy and his group, the old man from before had introduced himself as the mayor Boodle. He also managed to get ChouChou off of Brook, though he then hopped into Wanda's lap and refused to leave it, and told the dogs story. Brook had begun to tear up. "That's a very similar story to a friend of mine. You see I use to be a part of a different pirate crew fifty years ago. We had befriended a baby whale during our time in West Blue, named him Laboon, and he even followed us to the Grand Line despite us telling him not too. We promised to return, but my crewmates either became sick and died, or fell to their battle wounds before we even made it half way through that sea. Like ChouChou here, Laboon had lost the people he cared for, but unlike ChouChou's owner, I can keep my own and my old crews word." He turned to the dog. "ChouChou, as long as the memory of your owner remains, his spirit will live on."

Boodle was awed. Initially put off by the minks and talking skeleton, he discovered they were actually good people. "Truer words cannot be said." He said to Brook before turning to the others. "You said you were here to stop Buggy?" they nodded. They soon heard yelling.

They turned towards the voice, seeing the rest of their crew. "Guy's! Buggy's angry; he's going to start blowing up the town!" Nami yelled, Kuina was with her, literally dragging Zoro behind her.

"What! Who would be stupid enough to piss Buggy the Clown off?" Boodle screamed.

The two girls pointed to Zoro. "This moron walked up and practically challenged Buggy to a fight! Not only that, he cut him!" Nami explained.

"He also refuses to explain exactly how he did it, the only thing I heard was Buggy screaming about Haki, whatever that is." Kuina said.

"I told you now is not the time to talk about that. I only used it as he can't tell the Marines. Now please put this off at least until we're back out at sea." Zoro pleaded.

Nami was not going to let Zoro off that easy. "You were told not to use Haki at least until the Grand Line. Should the Marines know at least one of us can use it; that means we'll have Vice Admirals after us before too long! Why don't you ever think things through!" she yelled.

An explosion went off and a row of buildings to the groups left was turned into rubble, one building was barely recognized as a pet shop. Terrified by the sheer destructive power, Carrot hid behind Luffy. "What was that!" she whimpered, her head pounding due to her sensitive hearing and relative proximity of the blast.

"That was one of the Buggy Balls." Nami explained. Luffy and Brook chuckled at the name.

"Truly terrifying." Wanda said, her head also hurting a bit.

Brook on the other hand walked to the rubble. "ChouChou's treasure, it's destroyed." He said, spying the little dog a bit off, having finally gotten out of the Dog mink's lap. Looking through the rubble he found a box of dog treats, which he then gave to their canine friend. "At least not all of it is destroyed." And with the treats and a pat on the head, the dog walked off.

A few seconds later a roar was heard. The mayor panicked. "Oh no! It's the beast tamer Mohji! Quick we better hide!"

"Why?" Luffy asked. "We aren't afraid of him."

"Good to hear Strawhat, just stand there and let me kill you." A voice said.

The group turned around to see a man, standing atop a green and purple lion, with hair covering most of his upper body. "No thanks. Hey Carrot, Wanda, how about you face these two?" Luffy said.

The two minks stepped forward. Carrot replied "Sounds fun." And Wanda simply said. "Why not?"

Mohji looked at his two opponents, a perverted grin plastered on his face. "Hey ladies, you know they don't call me the beast tamer for nothing. Why don't you two join me and let your wild side free for a night?" he flirted. He then noticed the murderous looks three of his enemies were giving him. It was at this moment he realized, he screwed up, badly.

"Let me at him! I'll destroy him!" Luffy yelled, being restrained by Zoro and Brook.

"We don't want you killing him by accident!" Zoro said.

"Besides, I believe our comrades want the pleasure for themselves." Brook added.

True enough, the two minks looked ready to kick some ass. The two charged forward with shave, and one kick from Carrot send Mohji flying into a building. Now the two minks stood between Mohji and Ritchie. Separated from his master, Ritchie swiped his paw at Wanda, hoping to remove one of the threats. "Iron body." Wanda said, hardening her body, and taking the blow. Mohji smirked, thinking Ritchie had killed the dog mink, but was shocked when he saw the swipe did nothing and Wanda remained stood in the same spot. She then swung her sheathed sword upwards, knocking the massive feline away, following right after.

As Wanda proceeded to fight the lion, Carrot walked towards a terrified Mohji. "You shouldn't have said anything you pervert. The only man I will ever love will be my captain." She whispered threateningly, though Wanda heard this and silently agreed. Carrot then put on one of her claws and now held it above the man. It began to crackle with electricity, courtesy of Carrot's Electro.

"I'm sorry!" Mohji pleaded, diving out of the way of Carrot's attack. He pulled a whip out of his satchel, hoping he could use it to beat this girl.

"Sorry won't keep you from an ass-kicking." Carrot said, using Moonwalk to avoid each whip strike.

No more words were exchanged as Carrot and Wanda used their superior speed and strength to avoid attacks and deliver harsh blows to the man and lion. After a couple of minutes of fighting, both Mohji and Ritchie were battered and bruised, left to crawl back to their circus clown of a captain.

"You people are risking so much for this village." The crew heard. Turning around they saw the Mayor, tears threatening to escape his eyes. "What kind of man am I? I was supposed to protect this town, my treasure, but instead I have to rely on a bunch of strangers. No longer! I'm going to go fight Buggy and free this island!" he declared, only for Luffy to knock him out with some Conqueror's Haki.

"Luffy!" Nami yelled.

"I will not let this old man get killed." Luffy argued.

Nami sighed. "Let's at least get him to the other villagers." She said, getting Zoro to carry the unconscious man. The group started walking towards the outskirts of town; to both deliver Boodle to the townspeople, and to hopefully prevent themselves from being run out of town.

While the Strawhats were taking the elderly man to his townsfolk, Mohji crawled back to the pub. "Captain!" he cried.

Coming to the edge of the roof, his side bandaged, was Buggy. "Mohji did you find Roronoa?"

"I'm sorry captain, I was beaten." Mohji explained. "I was able to get a count of enemies though, there are seven of them. Please forgive me!"

"Bah! Useless. Very well, if sending men out to kill them has failed, I'll just wait for them to come to me. They must be here to challenge me." Buggy said.

And wait he did, as nearly thirty minutes later we see the Strawhats arrive. Luffy inhaled, before yelling the three words that made Buggy crazy. "HEY BIG NOSE!"

Buggy's crew was scared. Their captain's eyes were shadowed by his hat, but they knew he was extremely angry. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING BIG NOSE!?" he yelled. "MEN! FIRE THE BUGGY BALL!" he ordered.

The pirates scrambled, and aimed the large canon towards the group. Brook was terrified, and Kuina was nervous, unsure whether her captain could stop such a thing. Carrot had once again hid behind Luffy and the rest were rather calm, though Wanda had opted to also stand behind the Rubber man. The fuse was lit and the highly explosive projectile flew towards the group. Luffy stood directly in the path of the ball and called out a technique that could stop any cannonball. "Gum Gum Balloon!"

The teen inflated his body, catching the cannonball and sent it back towards the unsuspecting pirates. "No. No wait!" Buggy screamed, waving his hands in front of him.

A large explosion destroyed the bar, bringing the pirate crew down with it. Carrot, Brook, Wanda, and Kuina all looked at the bar unimpressed. "That's it?" Carrot asked.

Nami sighed. "If only it were this easy."

The smoke from the explosion started to dissipate, revealing a bunch of unconscious pirates. "That was a nasty trick, you bastard." Buggy said, holding two of his own men in front of him as a shield.

"At least we were able to shield ourselves captain." A man with a white and blue checkered scarf said. He was holding up Mohji's lion, protecting himself.

"Cabaji! How dare you use Ritchie as a shield!" Mohji yelled, angry at his crewmate.

"Enough chit-chat. Roronoa Zoro, you will pay flashily!" Buggy said, sending his knife wielding fist flying towards him.

Before the hands reached him, Luffy jumped in front and caught the two appendages with his hands. "Sorry Buggy, but your opponent is me! Kuina, you face haircut-guy." He said, getting a nod from his blue-haired crewmate and an angry glare from Buggy.

Cabaji saw a chance to rid his Captain of an annoyance and charged forward, after pulling a sword from his throat, an act that made Brook cry out in terror before he was dragged to the cellar Buggy was using as a vault, along with Zoro, by Nami. Carrot and Wanda had watched for a moment before deciding to ransack Buggy's ship. "Take this!" he said, swinging his sword at Zoro.

Before the blade could make contact, Kuina had drawn her own sword and deflected the strike. "My captain has asked that I defeat you, and defeat is something I cannot accept."

"Defeating Zoro would have boosted my reputation, but if I must go through a lesser opponent, so be it." He mocked, balancing on his unicycle. Kuina seethed at his comment.

Meanwhile, Luffy had led Buggy to a more open area, not too far from where the rest of his crew was, but enough room for Buggy and him to let loose a bit more. "So you're the captain of Roronoa Zoro? I must say you've got yourself an impressive ensemble already." Buggy admitted.

"Shut up and fight! Gum Gum Pistol!" Luffy yelled, sending his fist flying towards the clown-themed pirate.

Buggy wasn't going to let himself be hit though, as he called out his own technique. "Chop Chop Festival!" Buggy's body separated into several parts, all but his feet floating around. "Chop Chop Double Cannon!" he yelled, his two blade-wielding hands flying towards the Straw hatted boy from two different directions. Luffy dodged the initial strike, and the several follow up attacks Buggy tried to get him with, including any sneak attacks he added with various parts of his body. "Ahh, why isn't this working… wait, you must have Haki as well."

"Yep." Luffy stated.

"I see, then what do you say go somewhere a little more open? It's been so long since I've fought another Haki user, I want to go all out, and I'd rather not kill my subordinates unintentionally." The blue haired captain said, floating away.

"You bastard!" Luffy stated, outraged by Buggy's uncaring attitude towards his comrades. He began following the clown pirate out of anger.

A few moments earlier, Cabaji and Kuina were facing each other, neither one making a move. "So what's a little girl like you doing holding a blade? Don't you know that when it comes down to it you need both strength and technique, and that I obviously outclass you in both? "The acrobat taunted.

"Say what you want, as I have heard the same for many years. Had we met before now your words may have bothered me, but I've realized that even the weak can topple the mighty, all that's required is the proper method." Kuina said; her katana held in front of her.

"I don't buy into that crap! Captain wants you dead, and I'm happy to follow that command!" He yelled. "Arsonist Technique!" he called inhaling. When he exhaled, a stream of fire came from his mouth.

Kuina, seeing the flames coming toward her, began spinning her blade in front of her. "Lily Whirlwind!" she called, redirecting the flames with the air currents she created.

"How?" Cabaji asked, as no one before could deflect his flames.

"Power is not everything. What I lack in brute force, I make up for in speed and control." Kuina explained, once again readying her blade. "Now, I believe it's my turn to attack."

"I don't think so. Dance of 100 kamikaze tops!" Cabaji yelled, throwing exactly 100 exploding tops towards the female swordsman.

"Lotus Strike!" Kuina called as she lunged, using her sword to cut every top on the way, causing a string of mini explosions behind her.

Cabaji barely had time to block the strike due to Kuina's speed. "Damn." He exclaimed. Seeing he had little chance in close range, Cabaji used his unicycle to get away from the ex-bounty hunter. "Let's see how you handle this. Murder at the Steam bath!" he called, riding his unicycle in a circle around her, creating a large cloud of dust with his sword that he was dragging behind. "Now, Carnival of Colors!"

Kuina was shocked as many multi-colored flying slashed came from the smoke. Dodging as many as she can she tried to figure out where Cabaji was in the smoke. Gaining a cut to her side, she saw a shadow and struck. "One sword style: Howling Wolf!" she called as she headed into the smoke. She reached the shadow, but to her surprise it was a wooden dummy made to look like Cabaji. When she struck the dummy, several wires erupted and ensnared her.

It was then she heard a cry. "Fireworks in the Cool Summer Breeze!" She looked up, seeing the real Cabaji in the air, poised to strike. "I see you've fallen for my Smoke and Dummy technique, now it's time to finish you. Wheel stab!" he yelled, beginning his decent.

Kuina panicked, trying to figure a way for her to avoid the strike. As Cabaji got closer she had an idea. Using her flexibility and strength, she was able to position her blade in the middle of the wires between her and the fake Cabaji. With only a moment to spare she executed her attack. "Death Blossom!" with a mighty upwards swing, the entire dummy lifted above Kuina, intercepting the falling Cabaji, and breaking on impact.

With Cabaji now unconscious, Kuina limped over to the acrobat, and using the wire that was no longer restraining her, due to the dummy breaking, tied him up. Carrot and Wanda then jumped down in front of her, just getting back from the Big Top with a few papers in hand. "I see you beat the Acrobat." Wanda stated, bending down to treat Kuina's cut, which she noticed upon arrival.

"Yeah, he was a decent challenge, but nowhere near Zoro's level. What's that Carrot's holding?" Kuina asked, trying to distract herself from the stinging in her side.

"We found some recipes and schematics for Buggy's special gunpowder, as well as a few of his crew's special weapons." Carrot replied.

"We thought that the destructive force of a Buggy bomb could be useful, even if it's a little loud." Wanda added, finishing wrapping the wound. "We'll need to get that treated back at the village camp, we'll take you there."

"What about Buggy and the others?" Kuina asked.

"Luffy's taking care of Buggy, we need to get what we've found to the boat, and you to the doctor." Nami said, arriving on the scene. Zoro and Brook were behind her, each carrying a bag of gold. "I'll go see how our captain is doing, you three make sure these idiots stay out of trouble." She ordered, pointing at Zoro and Brook. The two minks and swordswoman nodded in understanding. Nami then walked off to aid her captain.

The fight between Buggy and Luffy had destroyed the plaza, Luffy's strength making some rather deep dents in the concrete, and Buggy's Haki-infused blades creating deep slash marks.

Both combatants were tired. "Give it up Strawhat. You can't win." Buggy huffed.

"You're a lot tougher than I thought, but there's no way I'm giving up. Gum Gum Pistol!" Luffy called stretching his arm.

"Chop Chop Emergency Escape!" the clown pirate yelled, splitting his body into many different pieces. "Chop Chop Cannon!" Buggy used one of his separated hands to try and stab the rubber man with his knives.

Luffy saw the attack coming, and caught it in his hand. "You need new tricks." He laughed.

Buggy smirked. "I think my old ones work just fine. Buggy said, reattaching his body parts, minus his hands. "Chop Chop Cannon-Separate!" he called, causing the hand Luffy was holding to split apart, his hat being cut and knocked on the ground. Buggy used his other hand to grab the hat.

"Hey give that back!" Luffy yelled. No one was allowed to touch his hat.

Buggy frowned. "Now why would I do that? This hat reminds me so much of that bastard Shanks." He scowled.

"Shanks is a good man, he gave me that hat, and I promised to return that hat when we meet up again." Luffy explained. "It's my treasure!"

Buggy scoffed. "A straw hat can't be treasure. Treasure is gold, jewels, and anything valuable. Seeing this hat reminds me off all Red Hair robbed of me." He said.

"Yeah, yeah. You blame Shanks even though you attempted to steal the devil fruit and you swallowed it by mistake. I've heard this before. It was your own fault." Luffy said in a bored tone.

Buggy was mad; he even had a tick mark on his forehead. "So Shanks told you about that, well it doesn't matter, because you've pissed me off, and the fact that I despise Shanks, I'm going to tear this hat to shreds." He said, holding several knives in one hand and the hat in the other.

"Oh no you don't. You won't touch Shank's hat." Luffy said. He took a stance and began pumping his blood. "I'm going to send you flying." At this point he was steaming and his skin became a light pink.

"Oh really? That's a neat trick, but I don't see how that will help. Chop Chop festival!" he said, splitting his body.

"Gum Gum… Jet Gatling!" Luffy said, aiming for the mass of floating body parts.

Buggy was astounded by the speed, but even though he couldn't react to each punch, he didn't feel any pain. "Ha ha! Looks like you're weaker than I thought, I didn't even feel that.

"That's because you weren't supposed too." The younger captain said.

"Oh really? And what purpose did that attack fulfill? Chop Chop Reassemble!" He said, but most of his body didn't return to him, and he was shocked to find out he was left with only his hands and feet connected to his head. "What did you do to me!?" he yelled.

"We just captured the rest of your body so you couldn't use it to attack us anymore." A voice said. Buggy turned around to see Nami holding the rest of his body tied up thoroughly. "Luffy noticed me a couple of minutes ago, and used his Jet Gatling to collect your pieces." She explained, sticking her tongue out at the blue haired captain.

"Now Gum Gum…" Luffy started.

Buggy began to panic; he couldn't fight in this state. "Wait, wait, no, please, I didn't mean anything." He pleaded.

"Jet Pistol!" Luffy said, sending the super-fast punch directly into Buggy's face, causing the now chibi-pirate to disappear into the sky.

Nami walked up to her captain. "Nice job Luffy, are you sure he'll be ok?" Nami asked.

Luffy didn't look concerned. "He'll be fine; he's much stronger than he appears."

The two then grabbed Buggy's body and left it with the knocked out pirate crew, a small note saying what happened. After that was done they met up with the others, who had already given half the treasure to the village, and headed to the docks.

"So where are we going now captain?" Kuina asked.

Luffy looked at the bluenette and smiled. "Next we're going to get a ship and our Sniper." He said. Kuina understood what the plan was, but she figured it might be best to ask Nami from now on, as the orange haired girl is more likely to give her an island name.

The crew was getting ready to cast off, but stopped when Mayor Boodle and ChouChou came up to them. "I can't thank you enough. You've helped this town more than I ever could and even though you knocked me out..." he glared at Luffy. "You all are wonderful people."

"Thank you." Brook said. "May I ask why ChouChou is here as well? Is he here to see us off?"

The Mayor sighed. "I don't know, he was walking this way when I met up with him."

The dog then ran up to Brook and chomped on his leg again. "OH NO! NOT AGAIN!" Brook yelled, trying to pry the dog off again. It took ten minutes for them to set off, three to get ChouChou off of Brook, and then seven explaining to Luffy why ChouChou couldn't come with them. Ultimately ChouChou was made to stay on the island in Boodle's care, and the pirates set off.

 **(Syrup Village)**

Usopp was walking down the street of Syrup village, greeting people as he pass by. While he was greatly liked by most of the townspeople, there were a few who disliked his habit of lying and generally ignored him. During his time in the village he had acted as a carpenter, helping the people with various projects. In fact, Merry, Kaya's sheep-like butler had requested his help to work on the Going Merry, which Usopp had been glad to do. Of course there was also the Usopp pirates, but instead of simply playing pirate and making up lies, he had been teaching the three children essential skills they may need, such as navigation, basic woodworking skills, and of course how to aim, though they only used basic slingshots.

Usopp approached the gate to Kaya's mansion. He had introduced himself much earlier than the previous timeline, and he was welcome in the mansion anytime, as Kaya's closest friend. Unfortunately, Kaya's parent had pass, a business trip ending with their ship sinking, Kuro had nothing to do with it, which surprised the time traveler.

The long-nosed sniper opened the gate and walked up to the door, knocking three times. Soon Kuro, as Klahadore, answered the door. "Ah Usopp. I was wondering when you would come around again." The secret pirate captain said, barely attempting to hide his distain.

"Klahadore. I came to see Kaya, then Merry had some things he wanted me to fix." Usopp said, not taking his eye off the lanky man.

Kuro noticed this, as he had a dozen other times. "Is something about me bothering you?" he asked, he had an appearance to maintain, but he wouldn't let this teen continue to watch him as close as it seemed.

Usopp realized he had been caught, and he expected it a while ago, so he already had his retort. "You just look so similar to this one pirate I saw in the paper a few years ago." Usopp lied convincingly.

Kuro raised a brow, wondering if he had been discovered. "Which pirate, if I may ask." Kuro feigned. It was a risky move, but he needed to know if he had to kill the boy.

Once again Usopp realized what the cunning man was doing, but he wasn't going to be out lied. "The former captain of the Black Cat Pirates, Kuro of a Hundred Plans. But you can't possibly be him, he was captured and executed." He bluffed, making a quick jab at Kuro's intelligence.

A tick mark appeared on Kuro's forehead. "Oh yes, I remember now, but I believe it was Kuro of a Thousand Plans." He corrected, gritting his teeth.

"Oh right. My mistake." Usopp said before heading up to Kaya's room to say hello, before getting to work on the tasks Merry had for him. _"You better get here soon Luffy, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep Kuro in the dark."_ He thought.

 **(On the sea)**

The rubber men, along with his current crewmates, were approaching the island. "Hey Nami." The straw hat wearing boy said.

Said Navigator looked up at her captain. "Yeah?" she asked.

Luffy pointed in the distance. "Isn't that the cat guy's ship?"

This cause Zoro and Nami to both look in the direction he indicated, and sure enough, the Bezan Black, Kuro's ship, was off on the horizon.

The rest just stared, unsure of what exactly was going on. Nami thought for a moment. "We could sink it, except we want to expose Kuro, and they aren't exactly a threat." She said.

Zoro yawned. "Got that right, from what I can sense, they aren't any stronger than Morgan's son. Three voices stick out though, probably that hypnotist and those freaks I fought before."

Kuina looked at her longtime friend. "Voices? How can you possibly hear voices from this far away?" she asked confused.

Zoro huffed. "Can someone explain it to her; it's time for my nap." He said yawning. A second later he was snoring.

Five people sweat dropped and one just laughed at Zoro's usual antics. Ignoring the green haired swordsman, Nami looked at Kuina. "I guess Zoro promised this back in Orange Town, but I thought he would be the one explaining. When Zoro said voices, what he meant were presences. It's one of the capabilities of Haki." Nami started.

"What is Haki first off?" Kuina asked, she was feeling a bit in the dark, as she was the only one present who had no idea of what the Grand Line or New World were like.

Brook cleared his nonexistent throat. "Haki is a beings will or ambition. Everyone is capable of using Haki, it only needs to be unlocked."

"Thank you Brook." Nami said, before continuing her explanation. "There are three types, Armament, Observation, and Conquerors. Observation lets you sense presences or 'voices', Armament can be used as armor and bypass devil fruit defenses such as Luffy's rubber body, and Conquerors is the most powerful, and only one in a million have it, and it essentially enforces your will above others." She paused. "Actually that's not a really good description. Robin could give you a better one when we meet up, but anyone with a weaker will than yours will pause or be completely knocked out. It essentially comes down to whose will is stronger." Nami finished.

"Is that what Luffy did to the mayor back in Orange Town?" Kuina asked, remembering the strange event.

"Yep." The navigator said. "You seem to understand the basics now, but you'll be given more in depth knowledge with other new crewmates in the Grand Line."

Luffy looked back at his crew. "I remember training my Conquerors Haki, Old Man Rayleigh sure is a slave driver." Luffy said, grinning. He turned back around when he felt a familiar presence. "Hey Nami, I can sense Usopp." He said.

"Great! We reached Gecko island days ahead of schedule." Nami said. The group began steering towards the island, all except Zoro, who was still asleep.

Upon reaching shore Luffy and Nami noticed no one was there. In the other timeline, Usopp and his followers attempted to scare people away from the island. Once they managed to wake Zoro, the group headed into the small village.

In the small town, the pirates gained strange looks, but that was expected, due to their odd appearance. Heading to the tavern was the first thing they did, to fill their stomachs before meeting with the sniper. Twenty minutes later the group was walking through the forest, Luffy leading the way as his observation Haki had quickly located the long nosed man. The reached what appeared to be a hidden garden, full of different fruit trees, several areas where Usopp's Pop Greens were growing, and an array of tools surrounding the native teen. "Good timing guys, I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep Kuro from figuring it out." Usopp said. He waited for no response before he continued talking. "I mean, I went over to Kaya's earlier and he noticed how I was acting, I had to bluff my way out of it, but he's more than likely suspicious."

Nami sighed. "Well what could we have expected, he is one of the smartest men in the East Blue, even if that isn't much compared to the Grand Line and New World." Nami said.

Brook took this moment to speak. "I'm afraid that we must keep reunions and introductions short. "He said, referring to Kuina. "But we did see a pirate ship while we were approaching." He said.

Usopp tensed up. "You mean the Black Cat Pirates are already off shore!?" he said, getting several nods in confirmation.

"Great. I thought we'd have a couple of days at least, or maybe we still do, but I need to go get that Devil fruit from Kaya." Usopp rambled.

Nami stiffened. "Did you just say Devil Fruit!?" she yelled/asked.

Usopp nodded. "I found it a week ago, and gave it to Kaya for safe keeping, but with Kuro's crew coming close, I don't want them to get it. I don't even know what it does!" he explained quickly before running off.

Meanwhile, in the mansion, Kaya was looking through her family's vast library, like she'd done every day after Usopp would leave. "What is that fruit?" she asked, setting down the last agricultural book she had.

Kaya's other butler, a man with white, sheep-like hair and horns atop his head entered the room, a tea tray in hand. "What are you looking for Miss Kaya?" He asked.

"Oh nothing Merry, Usopp just showed me this strange fruit recently, and I've been trying to identify it." She explained. Despite being told to keep it a secret, she felt that Merry could be of help to her, and he was her most trusted confidant, even more so than Usopp.

"Hmm… a strange fruit you say?" He walked over to one of the massive bookshelves. "I assume that's why you've been looking through all of the agriculture books." A small nod from Kaya confirmed this. "I may be wrong, but could young Usopp have found a Devil fruit?" he said pulling a rather thin book from the top shelf and handed it to the young woman.

Kaya took the book and began skimming through it. She learned what a Devil Fruit, the types, and what the consequences of eating one were. Everything from that short conversation began to make sense. She stopped, finding a picture of the very fruit that was locked in her chest. Underneath it was a very general description.

 **The Plant Plant Fruit, a Paramecia Devil Fruit that turns the user into a Plant-Human. The fruit allows the user to control, grow, and become any form of plant. For this reason, it is still debated that it is a Logia. Also, while similar to the Grow Grow fruit, this Devil fruit is superior as it has many more capabilities. Is highly sought after for is practical applications in cooking and medicine. Estimated value of 250,000,000 Beri.**

Kaya gasped, that amount of money was more than twice her family's fortune! Now she understood why Usopp wanted her to hide it. Looking over her shoulder was Merry, who was also surprised. "That sounds like a very useful fruit. Is that the one Usopp showed you?" he asked.

Kaya nodded, but her mind wandered somewhere else. "Merry, it says that this Devil Fruit has uses in medicine, do you think it could cure me?" She asked, hope pouring into her voice.

Merry was shocked the young miss would even suggest that. He sighed and responded. "There's no guarantee, plus you would never be able to swim again. Are you really willing to give that up?"

Kaya glared. "I already am stuck in bed! I can't go out! I can't even leave my room half the time!" She broke down crying. "I just want to feel better; I want to be free again."

Merry looked at the heartbroken girl. What's worse is that she was right. Ever since her parent passed, her health has deteriorated, and the village doctor put her on strict bedrest. At best she could move around the manor, but he often stuck by her side when she did so. Looking once again at the young girl, he sighed. "We'll ask Usopp next time he comes, I'm sure he'll give you the fruit if you ask." He carried the young girl up to her room and placed her in bed. Deciding to leave her be for now, he exited the large, rather empty room. One thought on his mind. _"This room must feel like a prison for her."_

Once the sheep-like man left, Kaya reached under her bed, where she stashed the chest, removing the key from her nightstand drawer, she opened the chest to reveal the fruit. She observed it for a moment before she made her decision. Lifting the pear-shaped fruit, she opened her mouth… and bit. Her taste buds were assaulted with the flavor of sawdust mixed with boiled rubber and rotten pumpkin, and she wanted to vomit, but managed to keep from doing so. She quickly felt something inside her, something that wanted to come out. She reached her hands to the side unconsciously and let out a scream, not one of pain, but one of effort. Wood and leaves erupted from her arms, enveloping the room, going through her open door and window, eventually encasing the entire house.

She stayed like this for a while, connected to the plants, feeling their power. She began to feel better, and she could feel her body healing. However, it wasn't long before she felt someone attempt to cut the plants outside, and because she was so startled, she sent a force to defend on instinct.

An hour prior, Usopp was running back to the village to get the Devil Fruit when he saw Klahadore walking towards the shore, a bag in hand. He remembered Kuro meeting with his first mate, so he decided to follow.

Usopp arrived at the cliff he used to spy on Kuro before, the one in the previous timeline. He was just waiting for a few minutes, watching Kuro stare out at sea. Another figure soon arrived though; it was the hypnotist Jango, whom no one had seen in the village. "So what did you call me here for?" Usopp heard Jango ask.

Kuro raised his glasses in his usual manner before speaking. "A certain brat is becoming suspicious, I feel like the plan can be moved up. I don't want to give him any time to discern my true identity. The ex-pirate responded.

Jango tensed seeing his old captain's habit; it told him that Kuro was still a trained and ruthless pirate who wouldn't accept failure. "I… I can have them re…ready in a couple of…of hours." He stuttered.

"Excellent, attack at sundown, but do not fail me." He warned. Kuro then turned back towards the village, once again adopting his Klahadore persona.

Usopp ran, this wasn't like last time; he needed to get his crewmates together. He approached the tavern, where he told the crew to meet him. Bursting in he saw the seven pirates sitting in a booth. He walked over to them and sat down. "We need to prepare." He stated before downing a pint of sake.

The others looked at him confused. "What's bugging you?" Zoro asked.

"Kuro's crew is going to attack at sundown!" he exclaimed.

Nami widened her eyes. "When did you learn this?!" she panicked.

"Just a couple of minutes ago. I was running to get the… Devil Fruit… CRAP! I was so distracted by Kuro I completely forgot to get the Devil Fruit

Just then the Usopp Pirates, Ninjin, Piiman, and Tamanegi burst in. "Captain! Somethings going on at Kaya's!" they exclaimed.

Usopp was out the door faster than anyone could've thought, including the other Strawhats, who quickly followed. The group raced through the village to Kaya's mansion, which now looked like the entire property was a dense jungle. Kuro was outside, his cat claws on, and he was fighting what looked like people made of wood. The wooden figures were rather basic overall, as their faces were blank with a spiraling wood pattern that matched the rest of their bodies, and their limbs all ended with a point.

Upon reaching him the Strawhats began fighting the wooden people, all except Usopp who launched an attack at Kuro. "Green Star: Devil!" he yelled launching the seed.

The attack landed and a single Venus flytrap-like plant emerged, eating several wooden soldiers and trapping Kuro with its vines. "What did you do?" He asked the fake butler.

"I should be asking that. It is apparent that this attack on Miss Kaya is your work, as you are the only one present who apparently uses plants. But I guess I should have expected this from the son of a filthy pirate." Kuro responded, though to be honest, he was just as confused as Usopp.

"I don't care what you say about me, but my father is a proud warrior of the see, something you would never know about, Kuro! You ran from the sea!" Usopp shouted. "But I don't care about that, I need to save Kaya."

Kuro's eyes widened. "So you knew, no matter, you'll all be dead before sunrise." He then managed to cut the vines restraining him and he ran for the coast, knowing that fighting eight people and a bunch of wooden… things, would likely end in his defeat.

Usopp and Luffy were about to chase, but Nami held them back, while Zoro, Carrot, Wanda, Brook, and Kuina were holding off the wood soldiers. "We need to think this through, we need to beat Kuro, and get through… whatever is going on here." She stated.

"These guys aren't very strong, the problem is the amount of them!" Zoro called. Slicing twenty more into pieces. Nami watched as the sliced beings were absorbed back into the mass of plant life before the same amount emerged.

She thought for a moment, before a revelation struck her. "It's the Devil Fruit, Kaya must have eaten in and her new power went out of control. Of course we don't know what her power is capable of, but we just need to reach her."

"But I told her not to eat it! Why would she?" Usopp argued, having full faith in his friend.

"I don't know Usopp, we just need to get her." She turned to those fighting. "Can the five of you get into the house? Don't harm anyone inside, just get them to stop, show them that you mean no harm." She ordered. Kuina, Carrot, Wanda, and Brook quietly agreed and headed into the property, trying to move fast enough to not get caught by the wooden beings. Zoro on the other hand decided to keep fighting his way in, but every time he cut down an enemy, another formed. Nami then turned to Luffy and Usopp, we have about half an hour before sundown, Kuro ran for the South, so we'll head there." She exclaimed.

The three rushed to the southern slope, seeing the Bezan Black pull up to the shore. Kuro was standing in front of it. As the ship stopped, Kuro jumped up. "Things have become more problematic." He turned around, having known Usopp would follow. "See those three at the top of the hill. Kill them and everyone else in the village, then my peaceful future will come to pass!"

Jango was terrified for a moment. "What about the girl? I need to hypnotize her; that was the plan!"

Kuro scoffed. "Don't worry about her; she'll be safe for the moment."

Luffy was getting pissed. "Oi cat guy! Don't think we're so easy to kill!" he yelled.

Kuro chuckled. "And what is a child such as you going to do?" He asked, his crew leaving the ship and grouping up on the beach.

The Strawhat Captain grinned. "We'll fight."

Kuro stopped smirking. "Very well." He looked down at his men from the ships figurehead, upon which he was standing. "Go on, charge. Prove your worth." The Black Cat Pirates began to charge, weapons drawn.

Usopp pulled out his slingshot, Kuro Kabuto, and pulled back. "Oh no you don't. Green Star: Bamboo Javelin!" he yelled, launching the seeds all along the slope. Massive bamboo stalks sprouted from the ground, knocking many up in the air and even piercing a few.

"Nice job Usopp, something tells me this will be a breeze." Nami said. She giggled a bit before brandishing her Sorcery Climate Baton, which she got from Franky via Marco. "Gust sword!" She called. A massive gust of wind blew down the slope, forcing the Black Cat Pirates, both grounded and airborne to fly back, many hitting their crewmates or their ship.

"These people are scary." One random pirate yelled to his crewmates.

"I don't know if we can beat them." Another added.

A shadow overcame them. "Don't forget about me!" they heard. Several looked up, only to see the straw hat wearing guy above them. "Gum Gum Stamp Gatling!" he called as many of the pirates were kicked.

Kuro was upset at how bad his men were losing… no, they weren't just losing, they were being humiliated. "Jango, do something." He said calmly, which terrified the hypnotist.

Jango just nodded before jumping down, just behind the cannon fodder. Once they all were looking at him, he began to use his talent. "One the count of Jango you will be fearless, unstoppable, and you won't feel pain. One. Two. Jango!" he said. All of the Black Cat Pirates' eyes glazed over, and as a collective, they let out a massive roar.

Nami looked at the powered up pirated and began sweating. "I think this just got a little harder." She turned to look at her two comrades, only to see Usopp. "Wait… don't tell me." She looked back down the slope to see Luffy running towards the pirates, letting out a roar of his own. "THAT IDIOT GOT HYPNOTIZED AGAIN!?" she yelled, watching as Luffy knocked many of the Pirates out.

As the three battled the pirates, the rest of the Strawhats were having a much more difficult time, as they had managed to get into the house, but they were still swarmed by the wooden figures. "Ah! There's no end to them!" Kuina yelled, taking down more of the opposing figures.

Zoro grunted. "Yeah, but we need to find the one whose making them. Brook, can you freeze them?"

Brook laughed. "I can certainly try." He said. He channeled his devil fruit into Soul Solid, causing the air around the blade to chill and become visible. "Soul Parade: Ice Burn!" he said, drawing and re-sheathing the cold steel. The floor of the entire room froze, freezing the plants and wood figures." Seeing that there were no more enemies to fight for the moment, the group took a minute to catch their breath.

"Okay, now that we have a moment, I can sense two people, one upstairs and one downstairs. Brook, me and you will get the guy downstairs. Kuina, you, Carrot, and Wanda head upstairs try to calm the girl down." Zoro ordered, as Luffy and Nami weren't present, he was in charge. Everyone nodded and split up into their groups.

Brook took the lead, using his speed to dispatch any wooden figures, and eventually the two made it to the kitchen, where a guy who looked like a sheep, stood terrified. "Who… who are you people?" he stammered.

Zoro raised his hands as a show of no harm. "Calm down, we're friends of Usopp, we're here to get you out of here.

Merry calmed down hearing they were friends of Usopp, but became increasingly worried about Kaya. "Oh no, Miss Kaya! I need to reach her!"

Brook looked at the man. "No worries, our female companions are already heading to her, they'll get her to calm down and retract her Devil Fruit ability." Brook said. The man again calmed down… until he realized that a massive living skeleton just spoke to him, and he promptly fainted.

Zoro sighed and picked the man up. "Come on, we'll meet the others outside, then we'll go fight Kuro."

Upstairs, the girls were having much better luck; it seems that most of the wooden figures were drawn towards Zoro and Brook, who had started cutting down more figures upon the split up. The hall wasn't even that densely covered compared to the jungle outside and the large foyer filled with wooden enemies. Carrot was listening carefully, and approached a doorway completely blocked by plants. Kuina was about to cut her way through but Carrot stopped her. "Hello?" she called sweetly.

"Who's there?!" a panicked voice responded.

"My name is Carrot, I'm a friend of Usopp's" Carrot responded.

The plants moved out of the way, revealing a young girl around seventeen with honey blonde hair. "Hello, my name is Kaya." Kaya said nervously. She was surprised by the appearance of Carrot and Wanda, but Usopp had told her of a country full of people that looked like animals.

"Hello, this is Wanda, and Kuina." Carrot said, introducing them.

Wanda stepped forward. "Would you kindly retract your Devil Fruit abilities, the entire property is  
covered and the wooden soldiers made getting in very difficult." She said calmly.

Kaya looked at her confused. "Wooden soldiers?" she asked. She was feeling strong enough to walk around freely now and the group began walking towards the front. Wanda just pointed to one of the figures, which had gone limp due to Kaya no longer feeling frightened. "I made that?"

Kuina nodded. "They weren't very good at fighting but the fact that more kept appearing was really impressive." She said.

"But… but… I didn't mean to make them. I just at the fruit then plants started growing from my arms… speaking of which I don't know how to retract them!"

Wanda just placed a hand on her shoulder. "Just relax, and think about them retreating." She instructed.

Kaya did so, and even though she was no longer physically connected to the plants, they still receded; you could barely tell they were there. She stared down at her hands. "Wow." She muttered.

Wanda looked at the young woman. "You have a lot of power now, and you will need to learn how to use it properly. Can you tell us what exactly happened after you ate the fruit? We need to understand how your ability works. Kaya then explained from the plants growing from her arm, to how she could detect someone trying to cut through the plants, eventually getting to the part they showed up. Wanda thought for a moment. "It seems your control over plant life is tied to your will, when you felt threatened your plants started to defend." She said, figuring out the girl's power. "Of course you can train with the power so incidents like this won't happen again. Now come on, let's meet up with the others." She said, stepping outside, where Brook and Zoro had the unconscious Merry.

"Great, Now that everything here's taken care of, lets meet up with Luffy and the others." The swordsman said, causing the group to head for the shore, only stopping in the village to drop Merry off at the doctor. Kaya adamantly stayed with the group.

Back at the slope, Kuro was becoming even more frustrated with his subordinate's performance. This idiot was beating the hell out of them, and the other two were sniping off any others that got too close.

He growled before turning to his first mate, jumping off the figurehead and onto the deck. "Get Sham and Buchi, then sneak by as they distract the two up the slope, I'll handle the last one." He said. Jango quickly did so before returning to his captain's side. The two then heard a crack. Taking a look over the railing they saw the straw hatted teen gripping the bottom of the figurehead. There was a loud crack and the entire chunk of wood was ripped from the ship, being brandished as a club. Kuro then had an idea. "Jango, hypnotize him again. His strength could be… useful."

Jango got the idea and jumped into action, swinging his Chakram. "On the count of Jango you will destroy the two at the top of the hill, and anyone else that joins them. One… Two… Jango!" He yelled.

Luffy stopped and turned toward Nami and Usopp. The two paled, as the thought of fighting Luffy wasn't all that appealing.

As Luffy was heading up the hill, they turned to run, but instead they saw the rest of their crewmates. What's happening?" Kuina asked urgently. She noticed that her captain had a blank look in his eye.

The rubber man brought his fist back and launched it forward, causing the group to dodge. "He's been hypnotized! He's fighting for the enemy!" Usopp shrieked as he dodged another one of Luffy's fists.

Zoro took command. "Carrot, Wanda, you two help me with Luffy." He had already noticed the two were blocking his captain from getting closer. He continued. "Brook, I'm trusting you to handle Kuro." Dodging another punch from his captain, he turned towards Nami, Usopp, Kuina and Kaya, with Usopp yelling in surprise to see her there. "You four handle the hypnotist and the other two in the ship." Most looked confused before two figures, one extremely thin and the other the exact opposite, appeared on the deck of the ship.

With the plan having been formulated, the Santoryu rushed towards his captain, closely followed by the two mink girls. "Come on Luffy, snap out of it!" He yelled. He had drawn all three of his blades and coated them in Haki. Seeing his words had no effect he prepared to attack. "Oni… Giri!" he shouted, using the flat of his blades in an attempt to knock his captain out. Of course the attempt failed as Luffy managed to dodge. Zoro did notice however that Luffy was fighting the hypnotism, and as such wasn't using any of his gears or more powerful attacks. Zoro was then slammed into the cliff face as Luffy used Gum Gum Whip.

Using the opening, Kuro, Jango, and the Meowban brothers rushed past and split up, failing to notice Kaya who had hidden in the forest with Usopp. The island natives followed the hypnotist, Brook followed Kuro, and Kuina and Nami pursued the brothers.

Wanda and Carrot were worried. Luffy was always kind to his friends and would never want to hurt them. On top of that, they both had crushes on the man they were fighting. Wanda saw a moment when Zoro was slammed into the wall and took a chance. "Tempest Kick!" she called. The flying blade of wind hit Luffy in the back, but it did nothing but knock him forward, as he used a weak layer of Armament Haki.

Carrot decided to follow up and put on her gauntlets. "Shave!" She called. She slammed into her captain and pinned his arms. As she sat on top of him she tried to break through to him. "Come on Luffy! Snap out of it! We're you're friends! Remember!" she yelled, tears forming in her eye.

Luffy roar and threw her off of him. He jumped up and rushed toward Zoro, who had just gotten up from his crash. Despite Luffy holding back, he still packed a punch. "Oh no! Not this time!" he said. He positioned his swords so that the two he were holding went above Wado Ichimonji. "Tora Gari!" he yelled, his swords intercepting Luffy's punch and knocking him back.

Luffy went flying towards the two mink women, both using Moonwalk to stay airborne. "TEMPEST KICK!" they both called.

Luffy dodged and used Moonwalk to reach the two. Grabbing them he through them hard to the ground, knocking up a huge dust cloud.

Upon landing he was face to face with Zoro. "You made me do this Luffy. 108 Caliber Phoenix!" he said, sending the powerful flying slash toward Luffy. Using Moonwalk once again allowed Luffy to dodge in midair, and he rushed towards the swordsman, only to be intercepted by Carrot, who had charged up a ball of Electro.

She slammed the ball into the ground. "Electrical Luna!" she yelled. As Luffy was directly in front of her, he was hit by the shockwave as well as blinded by the flash.

Disoriented but unharmed by the attack, the young pirate captain staggered backward. He wildly swung at the air around him, hoping to hit his enemy. He remained blinded for a couple of minutes before his sight slowly returned. Once fully capable of seeing again, he failed to see Zoro, Carrot, or Wanda. He walked forward a couple of steps, continuously looking around him. He heard a noise behind him and turned around.

Zoro had tied his bandana on his forehead and was rushing toward his captain with two swords pointed in front of him. "Ushi Bari!" he called.

Luffy jumped back but Carrot used Shave to get right in front of him. She grabbed the front of his vest and with all her strength through her towards the Bezan Black, where Wanda was waiting. The dog mink jumped up and did a flip. "Legacy of Zou: Crater Kick!" she called, bringing her foot, lightly coated with Armament Haki down on Luffy's head. Her captain crashed into the ground, and true to the name, a crater formed on the beach. Carrot, seeing Luffy down, rushed to their small ship and grabbed a pair of seastone cuffs, quickly returning and putting them on her captain. The three Strawhats released a sigh, as the cuffs should sap away Luffy's energy and make him unable to fight. The Black Cat Pirates that were awake were terrified; they knew that they would be no match for the three.

Kuina and Nami were chasing the odd duo of the Black Cat Pirates Buchi and Sham. The two realized they were being followed and continued to run, hoping to lose their pursuers. This failed however, when they ran into a clearing. The two women stopped, realizing that their opponents had nowhere left to hide. "Milky Ball!" Nami called, using her Sorcery Climatat Baton to create a ring around herself, Kuina, and the Meowban brothers.

"Ah! What's this?" the Skinny one, Sham, asked in shock.

"Nowhere left to run you two. Now how about you stop acting like cowards and fight us." Kuina said, drawing her katana.

The two brothers exchanged a glance. "It seems we're stuck brother." The other one, Buchi, spoke.

"Indeed, but how can we compare to warriors of such strength." Sham feigned.

The two approached the two Strawhats, and kneeled before them. "Please spare us!" they begged.

A tick mark appeared on Nami's head. "Do you think we'll fall for that? I'm a professional thief; I know the false cowardice tactic." She said.

"Then die!" the two yelled, slashing their claws at the women pirates. But, to their confusion, they passed right through their opponents. "Huh?"

A laugh was heard behind them. "Did you really think I would let you get close?" A disembodied voice said. Nami and Kuina then shimmered into existence, having been hidden by Nami's Mirage Tempo.

Kuina readied her blade. "You two aren't very powerful; all I need is one attack. One sword style: Angel Parade!" she exclaimed. Sham and Buchi couldn't believe what they were seeing, as Kuina had moved so fast, multiple afterimages surrounded them, each striking from a different angle. They were unable to dodge and were soon covered in gashes, but they were still standing.

"Is that all you got?" Buchi asked, panting.

"You didn't even knock up down. What happened to only needing one attack?" Sham added, also breathing heavily.

Kuina smirked. "All I said was **I** only needed one attack. I never mentioned Nami." She said.

The two Black Cat Pirates looked around for the orange haired girl, noticing three dark clouds around them. They spotted Nami on the other side of Kuina, smiling widely. "Thunder Trap." Was all she said, causing the clouds around both Meowban brothers to spark with lightning. When lightning jumped from the clouds to the brothers, the only thing they felt was pain. It only lasted for a couple of minutes before both brothers were unconscious. Nami sighed. "I guess we better drag them back to their ship." Nami sighed. Kuina nodded. The navigator swung her Climatat Baton twice, once to remove the Milky Barrier, and the second to create another cloud. Kuina looked at it in confusion. "It's a solid cloud." She explained, jumping up on it to prove her point. "It's sturdy enough to hold a ton and light enough to move with minimal effort." Kuina was awed. They then loaded the two unconscious pirates onto the cloud and began pushing them toward the coast.

Jango was wandering around the forest, looking for the long-nosed sniper. Said sniper, along with his childhood friend, was hiding in the bushes not far away. "What do we do Usopp? Who are these people?" Kaya asked.

"They're the Black Cat Pirates, led by Kuro, or as you know him, Klahadore." Usopp answered.

Kaya gasped. "I… I don't believe you, Klahadore would never…" but she was cut off.

Usopp glared at her. "Yes he would. Kuro is a bad man who has been using you for his plan ever since he showed up on this island." He whisper-yelled.

"But why?" she asked, also in a hushed tone.

"He want's your fortune." Usopp answered.

Usopp's Observation Haki then warned him in time for him to tackle Kaya to the ground as a Chakram went over both their heads.

"There you are." Jango said. He then noticed Kaya. "Oh, and there's the girl I was supposed to hypnotize. Why don't you cooperate and this will all be over that much quicker." He said.

Usopp growled. "You're going to have to go through me first!" he exclaimed, pulling out his Kuro Kabuto. "Gunpowder Star!" he yelled, launching the exploding pellets.

Jango lunged forward, a Chakram in each hand, and managed to avoid the explosions. Kaya, worried for her friend wanted to do something. She put her hands on the ground and willed, causing two trees to spring up from underneath both Usopp and Jango. As the two were launched skyward, they both let out a yell. Once both men started to descend, Usopp pulled out one of his Pop Greens. "Green Star: Trampolia!" he called, launching the pellet at the ground. A massive flower bloomed, cushioning the snipers landing. Once back on the ground, the teen turned towards his friend. "Run Kaya! You don't know how to use your powers, so get away from here!" he yelled.

Kaya got angry. "Why should I?! I can help, I have this power…"

"BUT YOU CAN'T CONTROL IT!" Usopp snapped. Kaya was about to respond, but Usopp continued. "I don't know what compelled you to eat it after I told you not to, but I don't have time to deal with this right now!"

"BUT I CAN HELP! WHY WON'T YOU LET ME?" Kaya yelled.

"BECAUSE I CARE ABOUT YOU!" Usopp shouted.

"Aww, how sickeningly sweet." The two heard. They turned to see Jango spinning his Chakram on his fingers. He had somehow landed safely after Kaya launched him.

Usopp put himself between Kaya and the hypnotist. "Don't you take a step closer!" he snarled. He already drew his slingshot and loaded one of his stars while Kaya ran and hid.

"Oh! Let me guess, you like her, that's why you're trying so hard to protect her." Jango said dramatically. Usopp could only blush in response, as he did like Kaya, but he wasn't going to let it distract him. "Listen kid, I can either kill you now or you can step aside."

"I would never betray Kaya like that!" Usopp exclaimed. He launched his attack. "Green Star: Platanas Shuriken." He called. Several star shaped leaves erupted from the pellet and launched at Jango, who used his Chakram to deflect the projectiles. He then threw his Chakram at Usopp, who barely managed to avoid the razor sharp blades.

Kaya watched as the two began to attack each other from a range. She wasn't far from them, but she was definitely out of the line of fire. She watched as each attack was either dodged or deflected. She knew she had to do something, but she didn't know what. She put her hand on a nearby tree trunk. Instantly feeling the tree, every part of it, she recalled what happened earlier, and focused. The tree warped, a wooden figure stepped out; looking over it for a moment before speaking. "Help Usopp!" she commanded. The figure didn't respond, nor did it hesitate, it simply did as commanded. She remembered what she read earlier and raised her arm in front of her, willing it to turn into wood, then an entanglement of vines, then a rose, and finally returning to her normal arm. The girl grinned, amazed at what she could do. Running back to the battle, Kaya shot her arm forward, once again letting it turn into vines.

Usopp was surprised when a wooden figure attacked the hypnotist. He wouldn't question it though, as it gave him a chance to hit the creep with an explosion star, damaging the man, but destroying the wooden soldier. A moment later he saw Kaya running towards Jango. She stopped short, but her arm turned into a mess of vines, which grabbed Jango and took all his Chakrams, effectively trapping him. She swung her arm, and smashed the Black Cat Pirate into the ground, knocking him out. He turned to his childhood friend. "Kaya, that was amazing!" he praised, forgetting his earlier anger.

"It was?" she asked, she wasn't use to fighting, so she had no point of reference to compare.

Usopp smiled. "Yeah. And with more training you can become really strong." He then got all serious. "But a Devil Fruit doesn't make you instantly strong; strength requires creativity, experience, and of course effort. There's no taking this ability from you, so you're going to have to learn how to use it." Usopp said, hefting the unconscious pirate over his shoulder.

Kaya understood, she knew that she wasn't experienced with these new abilities of hers, but there was already improvement. However, there was one thing she heard during the battle she couldn't take her mind off of. "Um… Usopp, about what he said." She pointed to the pirate slung over Usopp's shoulder. "Do… you really like me?"

Usopp blushed. "Uhhh… yeah. Listen I really like you, the only reason I snapped at you earlier was because I didn't want you to get hurt, and going into a fight not knowing what you're capable of is a good way to get hurt or die."

Kaya looked a little guilty. "I understand Usopp, and maybe you're right, I just need to train and practice more with my abilities. But Usopp, I care for you, but not like that. To me, you are my best friend, my most trusted ally, but you are closest thing I have to a brother."

Usopp was crushed. "Really?"

"You're really protective, you always put my wellbeing before your own, and I'm glad, but I don't want to depend on you. I want to rely on myself. So, while I'm flattered, I hope we can just remain friends." Kaya explained.

Usopp looked down for a moment, but it didn't last long. "Alright, I'll try to be less protective, and I'll even help you develop your powers so you can fight your own battles. Plus, there isn't anything that would make me stop being your friend, even if that's all. Besides, the sea is the one my heart aches for!" he exclaimed. The two shared a laugh; glad this revelation hadn't ruined their comradery, before heading back to the shore with the unconscious Jango.

Brook had followed Kuro through the village to the other side of the island. They hadn't been seen due to their speed, a feat that Kuro was surprised by, as even he could barely keep track of where he was running, but this skeleton had not only been able to keep pace, he hadn't even seemed to try, like moving at speeds matching or possibly exceeding what Kuro was capable of was easy.

Kuro stopped, standing on the northern slope of the island. He turned to face the skeleton. "I'm surprised you could keep up." He stated calmly.

Brook remained stoic, watching his opponent for a moment. Finally, he spoke. "Why?"

Kuro raised an eyebrow. "Why what?" he asked, confused by the question.

Brook clenched his boney fist. "Why would you run from the sea? It's shameful."

"You want to know why? I was tired of running, tired of fighting, and most of all…" he slashed his cat claws at Brook, who jumped over the strike. "I'm tired of dealing with idiots! I left to live a peaceful life of complete solitude, and after my plan succeeds, I'll have the wealth to liv it."

Brook drew Soul Solid, preparing it for a strike. "You should know that there is no peace in isolation." He stated, walking forward.

Kuro began to sway. "How would you know? Out of the Bag Attack!" Kuro began moving at a rapid pace, though Brook could easily tack him, and managed to block each strike that was aimed at him, though the majority slashed at the ground or cliffs.

Brook deflected one of the attacks into the ground, Kuro's blades sinking into the soil. "How would I know?" He stated, his bony face portraying anger. "I live for years alone, trapped on a ghost ship, cursed to drift for decades."

Kuro looked up at the man, a look of realization on his face. "I know you. You're the Humming Swordsman Brook, former captain of the Rumbar Pirates. I heard stories of you as a child. A pioneer of the Grand Line." He stated.

Brook looked at the man. "That is who I use to be, a man who had everything and lost it. Now, I am a Strawhat Pirate, the Soul King, and a man with renewed vigor!" He started to walk away. "You ran from the sea for your own selfish desires, I cannot be defeated by a man like you."

Kuro pulled his claw out of the ground. "Then don't turn your back on me!" he exclaimed, calling out his next technique. "Nine Lives Slasher!" He charges at Brook using the Pussyfoot Maneuver, slashing with all of his blades.

His attack failed to land however when Brook disappeared. The skeleton appeared behind him, and began to sheathe his sword. "Three Verse Humming… Arrow Knot Slash!" Kuro was slashed multiple times, Brook moving faster than he could track. "You will never truly know peace until you return to the sea, but until then reflect. Reflect on your actions, your life, and your morals. Rediscover yourself like I did." Brook said. That was all that the pirate captain heard before losing consciousness. Brook looked at his downed enemy before sighing. He picked up the lanky man and ran across the island, once again joining his friends.

It was getting late into the evening, with the moon high in the sky. The Strawhat Pirates had been offered to stay at Kaya's mansion, an offer that was graciously accepted. The Black Cat Pirates had run off as soon as they saw the four strongest members of the crew, which wasn't saying much, had been defeated. The Pirates, excluding Luffy, who was fast asleep but was no longer restrained by the seastone cuffs on, were sitting in Kaya's living room. Zoro was napping on the couch, Brook was admiring a beautiful white grand piano with gold accents, Wanda and Carrot were chatting with Merry due to his possible mink heritage, and Nami, Kuina, and Usopp were talking to Kaya about her Devil Fruit. "So you can control and make ANY type of plant?" the blue haired swordswoman asked.

Kaya nodded. "The book didn't go into much detail, so I'm unsure what all of my abilities are." She said.

Nami spoke up. "Either way, you need to train these abilities, and from our experience." She began, motioning between Usopp and herself. "Devil fruits are rarely so straight forward, Paramecia types especially. All it really comes down to is the user's imagination."

The heiress frowned, slightly worried. "So what would you suggest I do?" she asked.

Usopp smiled. "Come with us of course!" He exclaimed.

Kaya was shocked, but the looks on Nami's and Usopp's face made her think it was the most obvious conclusion. She didn't even want to question it, but her mind was racing. "I… I'll think about it." She said. She excused herself and headed up to her room, the pirates going to rest shortly after.

The next morning all the pirates were walking towards a cliff with Kaya and Merry. The sheep like man happily chatting as they walked. "I'm not sure how we could ever repay you for what you've done for this island." He told the pirates. "However, young Usopp has been helping me with a project for quite some time, and it only seems right that I give it to you." He said. The cliff came into view, and to the surprise of everyone, excluding Usopp, Kaya, and Merry, there was a ship. "I present to you the Going Merry!" the butler said.

It was just like the Zoro, Nami, and Luffy remembered, except instead of a steering pole in the galley, it had a steering wheel on the bow, just behind the figurehead. They wasted no time climbing on, a sense of familiarity washing over them. Nami even broke into tears of joy. She turned toward the butler. "Thank you! We'll take good care of her!"

Once the entire crew had looked over their new ship, Luffy and Usopp turned to Kaya. "So Kaya, what's your decision?" Luffy asked, confusing Merry. Usopp had mentioned offering Kaya a position on the crew and Luffy had wholeheartedly agreed.

Merry looked at his charge. "What does he mean Miss Kaya?" he asked.

Kaya looked up at the man who cared for her with sorrow in her eyes. "I'm sorry Merry, Usopp asked me to join the crew, and I'm going to accept." She said, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "I need to go, not just to learn about my new abilities." She grew a rose from her palm. "But I want to learn medicine and see the world with my own eyes. I have written over my family's fortune to you. I hope you have a good life." She said.

Merry had started crying as well. "Miss Kaya… I… I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything. I'll miss you, but I need to do this." She said, wiping her own tears away. Merry could do nothing but nod in understanding.

It took until noon before everything was loaded onto their new ship, even taking the time to tie their original boat, now dubbed the Merry Lamb, to the Going Merry's side. Usopp had also gotten Wanda, Carrot, and Brook, to help move his secret garden onto the ship, and told the Usopp pirates goodbye. The three children were sad to see him go, but they understood why he was leaving. Finally, the crew of now nine set off.

It wasn't long into the voyage that Nami realized there was a problem. "Uhh guys?" she called on the deck.

All eight of her crewmate soon stood before her. "What is it Nami?" Kuina asked.

The navigator took a deep breath. "I think this ship is a little small." She said. It was true, no one really thought about it, but who knows how many crewmembers they would pick up before Water 7. Added to the fact that Brook kept his piano from Dawn Island, which took up just about half of the space in the Merry Lamb, it was already kind of crowded. The other crewmate's eyes seemed to widen at the realization.

Kaya looked down, this gift from Merry, which she had already grown attached too, already needed to be replaced. Bending down she placed a hand on the deck. How she wished she could do something. Then she had an interesting thought. Could she manipulate the wood as she had back in Syrup? Willing the ship to increase in size, she realized that already existing pieces began to change. She could feel the keel getting longer and wider at the bottom of the ship, the siding growing with it. After a short while, the Going Merry had grown about four times the size, and another level had been added. There was now a men's room that could hold close to twenty large humans, the women's room being a bit bigger to include a library, which Kaya had made extra shelves for, the galley could now easily fit thirty people plus Brook's piano, the anchor room was also much bigger, and the storeroom was at least three times as big. Kaya couldn't do much about the kitchen or restroom except increase the size, though she expected Usopp could once he got the supplies.

Once she was done she collapsed, breathing heavily. Usopp rushed to her side. "Kaya, that was amazing!" he said. The rest of the crew could only stare in shock at her power.

Nami ran up and hugged her. "Thank you! Now we don't have to buy another ship!" she exclaimed.

She looked at the orangette. "There's still some work left to do though, mainly the kitchen and galley

Usopp helped her up. "Don't worry about anything else, you've already been a big help. I can take care of those when we get more supplies." He said, leading her to the galley to get some rest.

The rest of the crew quickly got back to work doing their various jobs. Carrot had gone up into the crows nest to watch for ships. She quickly spotted a small rowboat and alerted the crew. Pulling up next to the dinghy, the crew was surprised to see a battered and bandaged Kuro lying unconscious.

 **So yeah, long chapter. I hope I did a good job with the fight scenes (though I'm still working on my fight scenes, I just think I did a better job than my last attempt). As for the changes to the Merry, I couldn't have Usopp build a different ship, but I couldn't leave it the same size, due to the number of great characters that could possibly join the crew.**

 **As for Kaya's Devil Fruit, I understand it's similar to the Grow Grow Fruit from Film Z, but in the movie it seemed like Binz couldn't grow the plants directly from his body, so I thought, "What about a fruit that could turn the users body into a plant?", and it kinda evolved into a pseudo-logia, minus the intangibility. also, why have I never seen the word pseudo-logia in this fandom before? I just made it up.**

 **Back to the chapter. I understand some of you don't like Kuro, but I could see no reason his crew would keep him around, especially since we see that Jango joins the Marines by Alabasta. But I do have a plan for him, and it will all come down to how you guys vote. That's right, a smaller poll will be put up (probably already is) determining the fate of Kuro. I have an idea on how each choice will end, but I'm not sure which to do, hence the poll. This will last multiple chapters, but should be over by the end of the East Blue Saga.**


	5. Note 3

I feel as though I made a mistake making the poll. After just one day, there are over 70 votes for Kuro to leave. I feel like there wasn't much of a chance given here. So, while I thank everyone for voting, I have decided to go ahead and remove the poll, cause I always planned for Kuro to last, at the very least, a few chapters.

It really doesn't matter to me if anyone stops reading my story because of one character being included or not. Plus I always felt polls were more about suggesting something rather than influencing the writers story

And in my own opinion, Kuro could be a neat addition to the crew, he'll just have to gain the trust of the crew. I see the possibility of a good story line where he rediscovers his love for the sea. But that's

Sorry about this note, I just felt this needed to be said


End file.
